JV 

6451 
CS 


UC-NRLF 


SB    27D    E31 


IMMIGRATION 


INTO  Till; 


UNITED  STATES. 


i;  y   i  I:SSK  <;ii  1C  K  i;  i; 


BOSTON . 
CHABLfS    C,   LITTLE    AND  JAMES   BROWN 

,S4«. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  184H, 

BY  JESSE  CHICKERING, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  in  the  District  of  Massacliuaetta 


Hewes  &  Waison'a  Print.,  GO  Congress  St. 


FOREIGN  IMMIGRATION. 


THE  subject  of  the  Immigration  of  Foreigners  into  the 
United  States  has  of  late  particularly  engaged  the  atten- 
tion of  a  large  portion  of  the  community.  In  fact,  for  a 
long  time,  its  importance  has  not  been  overlooked  nor 
regarded  with  indifference. 

This  country  was  settled  by  European  immigrants,  in 
the  beginning  flf  Ibe  sevrnUM-mh  century;  and  from  time 
to  time  additions  have  been  made,  for  over  two  centuries. 
It  would  he  difficult  to  trace  the  steps  of  these  adventurers, 
and  to  si io\v  distinctly  and  specifically  the  localities  of 
their  abiding  influence  during  most  of  this  period.  It  is 
obvious,  however,  that  it  is  owing  to  them  and  their 
descendants,  united  with  the  riches  of  the  soil,  that  this 
country  has  become  what  it  is. 

It  was  natural  that  few  restraints  should  be  put  upon 
the  coming  of  those,  whose  circumstances  induced  them  to 
seek  a  dwelling  for  themselves  and  their  children  in  a 
country  different  from  that  of  their  birth.  Those  who  had 
arrived  welcomed  others  to  join  them  in  the  wilderness; 
and  local  causes  in  Europe  have  always  at  times  operated 
to  induce  its  inhabitants  to  emigrate;  and  particularly  has 
this  last  been  the  case  since  the  establishment  of  the  Amer- 
ican government  in  1789.  From  that  date,  liberal  encour- 
agement has  been  constantly  given,  in  various  ways,  to 
those  of  other  countries,  to  settle  within  our  widely  ex- 
tended territory.  After  a  few  years  residence  here,  they 
have  it  in  their  power  to  become  citizens  and  owners  of 
real  estate,  and  thus  to  be  entitled  to  nearly  all  the  priy- 
1 


M139325 


2  FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 

ileges  of  those  whose  fathers  achieved  our  national  inde- 
pendence. 

It  was  proper  to  have  shown  a  liberal  policy  towards 
foreigners,  to  have  sympathised  with  them  in  their  wants 
and  sufferings,  and  to  a  certain  extent  to  have  encouraged 
their  settlement  on  our  soil.  It  is  proper  that  those  who 
possess  this  abundance  of  soil  and  of  natural  resources, 
should  be  disposed  to  share  it  with  others  who  are  less 
favored  by  nature.  But  while  such  encouragement  has 
been  properly  given,  the  question  has  presented  itself  to- 
some,  whether  we  have  not  given  too  great  encourage- 
ment? These  foreigners  have  been  educated  under  influ- 
ences very  different  from  those  in  our  country ;  and  when 
mixed  with  our  citizens,  and  forming  an  integral  part  of 
our  population,  are  likely  essentially  to  modify  the  social 
and  political  character  of  the  mass  of  our  people,  and  the 
character  of  our  institutions  and  laws.  In  this  essay,  we 
propose  to  inquire  into  the  number  of  foreigners  who  have 
settled  in  the  United  States,  especially  since  1820,  and  to 
make  some  suggestions  in  relation  to  the  effects  of  such 
immigration  upon  our  country. 

An  act  passed  Congress,  March  2,  1819,  "regulating 
passenger  ships  and  vessels,"  by  which  the  collectors  of 
the  several  custom-houses  were  required  to  make  quarterly 
returns,  to  the  secretary  of  state,  of  the  number  of  passen- 
gers from  foreign  countries  arriving  in  the  collection  dis- 
tricts. Pursuant  to  that  act,  the  returns  have  been  annu- 
ally reported  to  Congress  by  the  secretary  of  state,  and 
published  in  the  executive  documents.  These  returns  are 
imperfect.  There  are  omissions  in  the  printed  reports  for 
whole  quarters,  during  which  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
some  passengers  have  arrived.  For  example,  for  the  4th 
quarter,  ending  Dec.  31,  1832,  in  the  printed  report  of  the 
secretary  of  state,  there  is  no  return  of  a  single  passenger 
arriving  in  any  district  of  the  country;  in  1830  there  was 


OFFICIAL    RETURNS. 


3 


no  return  from  New  York ;  in  1823  none  from  Philadel- 
phia; and  in  1831  and  1832,  none  from  Charleston; 
besides  these,  there  are  omissions  of  returns  for  quarters 
for  the  districts  of  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Charleston  and  New  Orleans.  The  omissions  for  Boston 
and  New  York  have  been  mostly  supplied  by  information 
from  the  custom-houses  there. 

In  these  returns,  the  number  of  passengers  arriving  in 
each  collection  district,  the  sex,  the  age,  the  occupation, 
and  the  country  where  they  were  born,  are  required  by 
law  to  be  specified.     The  only  particulars,  however,  which 
can  be  depended  upon  for  much  accuracy,  are  the  number, 
tfac  sex  and  the  country  :  but  tin*  specification  of  these  par- 
ticulars is   fafofcct     \V«-  propose    here  to  speak  of  the 
md   mutitnj,  merely  remarking  that  the  number 
of  the  males  has  been  considerably  larger  than  that  of  the 
females,  apparently  in  the  proportion  of  about  three  to  two. 
( if  the  whol«>  number  of  passengers  arriving  at  the  several 
ports,   a  portion   are   specified   as    "born  in   the   United 
States;"    the  rest  are  presumed  to  be  foreigners,  and  to 
come  here  with  a  view  to  live  and  die  here.     A  small  por- 
tion, it  is  true,  return  to  foreign  countries,  having  come 
here  for  business  or  for  travel,  or  having  been  disappointed 
in  their  expectations  of  bettering  their  condition  in  this 
country.     The  omissions  in  these  returns  are  confidently 
believed  to  amount   to   many  more   than   the  number  of 
those  who  leave  our  shores  and  go  to  other  countries. 

It  appears  that  the  number  of  foreign  passengers  arriving 
at  New  York,  during  the  nine  months,  commencing  Oct.  1, 
1845  and  Oct.  1,  1846,  as  shown  by  the  books  of  the  health 
officer,  and  for  whom  bonds  were  given,*  was  greater  by 
nearly  11  per  cent,  in  the  last  period,  than  the  number 
registered  at  the  custom-house. 

*See  Hunt's  Merchants'  Magazine,  Vol.  XVII.,  p.  311. 


FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

HEALTH  OFFICE 4th  quarter  in  1845— 12,567....In  1846—22,663 

1st        «        «  1846—  5,360....  "  1847—  9,882 
2d         "  .      "  1846—41,624.... "  1847—74,310 

59,551  106,855 

CUSTOM-HOUSE 4th  quarter  in  1845— 12,407....In  1846—22,005 

1st        "        "  1846—  5,027....  "  1847—  8,707 
2d         «        «  1846—41,407.... «  1847—66,095 


Difference, 

Besides  the  foreign  passengers  who  arrive  in  the  collec- 
tion districts,  and  are  reported  at  the  custom-houses,  many 
are  landed  elsewhere,  or  pass  into  the  states  directly  from 
Canada  and  Nova  Scotia,  without  being  so  reported.  What 
the  number  of  these  last  is,  it  is  impossible  to  tell.  Vari- 
ous opinions  are  entertained  upon  the  subject,  making  it 
range  from  25  to  50  per  cent,  of  the  number  registered  at 
the  custom-houses.  In  ordinary  years,  we  may  suppose 
that  50  per  cent,  is  to  be  added  to  the  number  returned  by 
the  collectors,  in  order  to  obtain  the  probable  number  of 
foreign  emigrants  who  have  settled  in  the  United  States. 
In  extraordinary  years,  as  in  1846  and  1847,  when  unusu- 
ally large  numbers  of  emigrants  came  over  from  Europe 
on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  bread-stuifs  and  for  other 
causes,  this  proportion  to  be  added  to  those  registered,  may 
not  have  been  so  great  as  50  per  cent. 

In  Table  I.  are  exhibited  the  number  of  foreign  passen- 
gers who  arrived  at  the  several  ports  of  the  United  States, 
and  are  registered  at  the  custom-houses,  for  each  year, 
beginning  July  1,  and  ending  June  30,  for  a  period  of  26 
years,  from  Oct.  1,  1820  to  Sept.  30,  1846,  distinguishing 
those  arriving  in  the  free  states  from  those  arriving  in  the 
slave  states. 

The  whole  number  for  these  26  years,  registered  at  the 
custom-houses,  and  reported  in  the  congressional  docu- 


NUMBER   OF   FOREIGN   PASSENGERS.  5 

ments,  with  a  few  additions  explained  in  the  next  para- 
graph, has  been  1,354,305,  of  whom  1,085,477,  or  8015 
per  cent.,  arrived  in  the  free  states,  and  only  268,828,  or 
19-85  per  cent.,  arrived  in  the  slave  states;  that  is,  in  the 
proportion  of  four  to  one  nearly. 

In  this  table,  the  number  for  the  4th  quarter  of  1832  and 
1834,  for  Boston,  for  the  3d  and  4th  quarters  of  1829,  for 
the  1st  and  2d  of  1830,  for  the  3d  of  1831,  and  for  the  2d, 
3d  and  4th  of  1832,  for  New  York,  have  been  respectively 
obtained  at  those  custom-houses.  The  registry  of  New 
York  does  not  discriminate  the  place  of  birth  of  the  pas- 
sengers for  the  above  eight  quarters ;  and  in  this  and  the 
following  tables,  the  whole  number  is  adopted  as  that  of 
foreigners.  The  8,353  for  the  3d  quarter  of  1830,  are 
added,  in  order  to  make  up  30,224  foreigners  who  landed 
in  New  York  during  the  year  ending  Sept.  30,  1830,*  the 
record  for  that  quarter,  and  also  for  the  4th  quarter  of 
1830,  being  lost. 

*SM  Bu*t>,  Merchant*'  Magazine,  Vol.  VIIL,  p.  169. 


6 


FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 


TABLE  I. — Exhibiting  the  Number  of  Foreign  Passengers  that  arrived  in  the 
United  States,  and  are  Registered  at  the  Custom- Houses,  for  each  year,  begin- 


TEARS. 

MAINE. 

N.  H. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

| 

1 
lib 

!« 
£ 

51 

ll 

M 

a 

1 

i 

j 

i 

| 

1| 

A 

I 

7 

i 

4) 

3 

s 

13 

7 

5 

1 

I 
o 

b 

.§« 

*! 

18 
27 
14 
17 
2 
7 

-^ 
j>> 

1 

1820-21 
1821-22 
1822-23 
1823-24 
1824-25- 
1825-26 
1826-27 
1827-28 
1828-29 
1829-30 
1830-31 
1831-32 
1832-33 
1833-34 
1834-35 
1835-36 
1836-37 
1837-38 
1838-39 
1839-40 
1840-41 
1841-42 
1842-43 
1843-44 
1844-45 
1845-46 
1846  3d  q. 

54 
373 
57 
5 
28 

760 
728 
55 
1,512 
1,662 
1,038 
4081 
1.653 
2^33 
2,370 
1,770 
2,070 
1,859 
3,795 
2,305 
3,340 
2,763 
4,912 
2,259 

37 
21 

5 
66 

209 
20 
25 
42 
28 
13 
31 

44 
13 
109 
11 
2 
28 
46 
340 
1,342 
79 
39 
67 
21 
676 
88 

"l21 
40 
109 

2 
3 

1 

5 
54 

9 

7 

45 
37 

. 

16 

54 

1 
36 

2 
18 
2 
19 

14 
1 

2 
1 
3 

2 

37 
19 
49 
209 
262 
6 
27 
4 

521 
703 
573 
420 
530 
515 
1,086 
1,197 
1,775 
1,143 
1,217 
1,241 
2,269 
2,951 
2,162 
2,815 
2,976 
2,272 
1,769 
2,906 
5,070 
7,447 
4,786 
4,020 
8,298 
10,567 
3,975 

33 

- 

3 
29 
4 

" 

66 
229 
67 
27 
41 
19 

- 

- 

- 

1 

" 

- 

4 

18 
6 
3 

5 

1 

4 
1 

28 

26 
3 
5 

- 

- 

m 

6 
3 
4 

6 

- 

3 

5 

- 

• 

„ 

26  years, 

42,282 

129 

3,543 

6 

75 

98 

54 

714  75,204 

33,59 

10 

133 

76 

449 

RECAPITULATION. 

1820-25 

484 

58 

324 

5 

6882 

. 

57 

2,747 

33 

20 

. 

76 

36 

389 

1825-30 

1,521 

71 

101 

_ 

7 

. 

. 

35 

5,716 

. 

5 

. 

10 

. 

60 

1830-35 

8,348 

. 

196 

. 

m 

16 

54 

7 

9,840 

_ 

28 

5 

6 

34 

. 

1835-40 

10,696 

. 

1,867 

. 

. 

. 

. 

39 

12,738 

. 

3 

. 

37 

. 

- 

1840-45 

14,062 

_ 

906 

1 

. 

_ 

_ 

545 

29,621 

. 

3 

5 

4 

6 

. 

24  3-4  yrs., 

35,111 

129 

3.394 

67598 

54 

683 

60.662 

33 

59 

10 

133 

76 

449 

1820-30 

2,005 

129 

425 

57582 

. 

92 

8,463 

33 

25 

. 

86 

36 

449 

1830-40 

19,044 

. 

2,063 

-|16 

54 

46 

22,578 

31 

5 

43 

34 

. 

1820-40 

21,049 

129 

2,488 

5 

75 

98 

54 

138 

31,041 

33 

56 

5 

129 

70 

449 

1835-45 

24,758 

. 

2,773 

1 

. 

. 

_ 

584 

42,359 

. 

6 

5 

41 

6 

. 

Deduct  H  q. 

2,506 

- 

1,478 

- 

- 

- 

- 

2 

3,924 

- 

3 

- 

28 

- 

- 

23  1-2  yrs. 

22,252 

. 

1,295 

1 

m 

. 

. 

582 

38,435 

. 

3 

5 

13 

6 

. 

Add  5  qrs. 

7,171 

149 

31 

14  542 

— 

— 



Oct.  1, 

1836-46. 

29,423 

- 

1,444 

1 

- 

- 

- 

613 

52,977 

- 

3 

5 

13 

6 

- 

NUMBER   OF    FOREIGN    PASSENGERS. 


rung  July  1,  and  ending  June  30,  for  26  years  from  October  1,  1820  to  Sep- 
tember 30,  1840,  distinguishing  the  Free  from  the  Slave  States. 


MASSACHUSETTS. 

R.  ISLAND. 

CONNECTICUT. 

NEW  YORK. 

a 

1  i 

| 

1 

jj 

£ 

1 

J 

j 

•d 
~v 

•e 

1 

& 

S 

j 

|i 

fc 

JK 

a 

s 

£ 

£ 

£ 

fc 

fc 

2 

i 

I 

1 

0° 

. 

. 

, 

3 

i 

7 

31 

2,304 

, 

. 

. 

6 

4 

18 

5 

21 

12 

134 

3,143 

( 

13 

368 

. 

1 

. 

. 

45 

6 

11 

4 

2ti 

9 

, 

3,144 

, 

. 

. 

. 

5 

5 

28 

. 

64 

56 

. 

4,080 

. 

, 

29 

. 

2 

1 

. 

7 

8 

10 

1 

34 

5 

. 

5,103 

. 

. 

79 

. 

. 

17 

122 

13 

6 

64 

. 

. 

5,688 

, 

. 

, 

. 

1 

. 

6 

4 

11 

2 

59 

8 

, 

6,563 

, 

. 

* 

17,592 

. 

, 

2 

7 

, 

9 

1 

. 

11 

2 

' 

14,338 

' 

19 

18,400 

t 

5 

. 

111 

19" 

93 

12,412 

. 

15 

. 

12 

3 

5 

44 

. 

, 

28,189 

68 

. 

. 

70 

. 

. 

19 

8 

. 

62 

38,490 

, 

. 

15 

22 

. 

36 

103 

17 

*8 

82 

80 

, 

44,085 

112 

, 

. 

42 

2 

. 

23 

12 

33 

1 

43 

3 

. 

35,520 

. 

. 

. 

20 

. 

127 

1 

13 

26 

, 

49 

13 

, 

46,859 

, 

. 

4 

37 

35 

2 

94 

3 

38 

15 

, 

52,169 

t 

, 

24 

. 

. 

. 

27 

23 

5 

, 

22 

1 

, 

32,387 

, 

, 

46 

7 

5 

. 

. 

28 

2 

, 

1 

. 

32,317 

. 

. 

. 

39 

8 

. 

. 

. 

29 

35 

30 

3 

. 

55,365 

, 

, 

. 

14 

. 

, 

, 

12 

8 

_ 

24 

3 

§ 

54,741 

, 

. 

67 

14 

1 

, 

t 

19 

26 

4 

t 

68,438 

( 

, 

25 

10 

1 

. 

. 

22 

5 

23 

. 

48,371 

. 

8 

19 

. 

43 

3 

4 

28 

, 

, 

52,969 

( 

, 

12 

2 

. 

. 

119 

; 

1 

26 

, 

. 

67,460 

. 

. 

36 

27 

4 

. 

. 

120 

2 

§ 

t 

t 

91,118 

( 

. 

27 

• 

• 

37 

• 

• 

• 

• 

39,098 

• 

• 

345 

355 

14 

228    376 

779 

192 

32 

878 

370    134 

880.343 

180 

13 

397 

RECAPITULATION. 


. 

3 

1 

66 

24 

67 

17  171:  82 

134 

17,774 

13 

397 

80 

2 

7 

23 

135 

24 

8  153   10 

62,581 

. 

. 

57 

114 

_ 

59 

257 

61 

14 

264  238 

§ 

158,696 

180 

, 

113 

30 

187 

71 

163 

33 

, 

219,097 

. 

. 

112 

5'.»  2 

i 

215 

16 

5  127 

7 

291,979 

, 

, 

282 

32810 

228 

376 

622 

192 

30  878 

370 

134 

750,127 

180 

13 

397 

. 

7 

89 

159 

91 

25  324 

92 

134 

80,355 

13 

397 

170 

186 

221 

287 

248 

85 

427 

271 

377,793 

180 

170 

5 

228 

376 

407 

176 

25 

751 

363 

134 

458,148 

180 

13 

397 

131 

7 

102 

30 

402 

87 

5 

290 

40 

, 

511,076 

, 

, 

35 

• 

159 

1 

28 

29 

78 

27 

• 

66,255 

225 

96 

7 

~~3~29 

374 

~~58 

5 

212 

13 

444,821 

288 

27 
123 

4 
11 

3 

29 

157 

531 

58 

fe 

71  217 

13 

~ 

130,216 
575,037 

« 

• 



FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 
TABLE  I.— Continued. 


YEARS. 

N.  JERS'Y. 

PENN. 

FREE 
STATES. 

DEL. 

MARYL'D 

VIRGINIA. 

N.  a 

Perth  Am- 
boy. 

Newark. 

,s 
a, 

1 

'2 

m 

d 

% 

¥ 

j 

Norfolk  & 
Portsmth. 

t3 

5 

Petersburg. 

1 

1 

|  Washing'n 

1820-21 
1821-22 
1822-23 
1823-24 
1824-25 
1825-26 
1826-27 
1827-28 
1828-29 
1829-30 
1830-31 
1831-32 
1832-33 
1833-34 
1834-35 
1835-36 
1836-37 
1837-38 
1838-39 
1839-40 
1840-41 
1841-42 
1842-43 
1843-44 
1844-45 
1845-46 
1846  3d  q. 

88 

105 

'  74 
528 
53 

494 
2,832 
2,174 

1 

833 
1,060 
752 
468 
957 
1,658 
2,204 
3,457 
2,602 
1,045 
1,500 
4,071 
3,492 
4,773 
2,176 
1,646 
2,309 
3,619 
1,780 
4,721 
3,117 
3,266 
2,421 
3,562 
5,299 
5,942 
2,897 

4,088 
5,761 
4,982 
5,650 
6,805 
8^35 
18,114 
22,246 
19,663 
21,362 
15,623 
35,760 
46,230 
53,370 
44,158 
54,088 
64,691 
43,003 
37,794 
65,313 
64,898 
83,892 
58,272 
64,258 
84,110 
112,795 
48,406 

*65 
439 

203 

188 
471 
787 
1,404 
286 
18 
24 
5 

646 
499 
707 
378 
852 
1,068 
1,163 
1,772 
1,507 
1,960 
4,531 
5,092 
6,558 
6,959 
5,065 
4,255 
5,254 
7,087 
4,896 
6,627 
5,818 
4,194 
4,662 
3,601 
6,000 
8,662 
4,986 

44 
166 
36 
108 
73 
95 
96 
55 
56 
680 
198 
535 
100 
110 
118 
146 
145 
36 
15 
90 
161 
29 
3 
6 

14 
9 

38 
3 
17 

3 

1 

46 

l 

5 
2 

• 

• 

• 

• 

16 
4 
4 
2 

• 

9 
5 

• 

• 

• 

146 
147 

• 

• 

4 
1 
1 

5 
6 

• 

• 

187 

. 

5 
3 

• 

26  years, 

6,348 

1  71,627ll,085,477 

3,890  105,799 

3124 

552 

4 

46 

48 

11 

RECAPITULATION. 

1820-25 

88 

4,070 

27,286 

3,082 

427 

59 

4 

46 

7 

1825-30 

105 

10,966 

81,620 

65 

7,470 

982 

. 

26 

1830-35 

655 

16,012 

195,141 

439 

28,205 

1061 

14 

. 

, 

1835-40 

5,500 

1 

14,075 

264,889 

862 

28,119 

432 

293 

. 

. 

6 

11 

1840-45 

. 

, 

17,665 

355,340 

2,519 

25,275 

199 

187 

. 

5 

t 

24  3-4  yrs., 

6,348 

1 

62,788 

924,276 

3.885 

92,151 

3101 

553 

4 

46 

44 

11 

1820-30 

193 

. 

15,036 

108,906 

65 

10,552 

1409 

59 

4 

46 

33 

, 

1830-40 

6,155 

1 

30,087 

460,030 

1,301 

56,324 

1493 

307 

. 

6 

11 

1820-40 

6,348 

1 

45,123 

568,936 

1,366 

66,876 

2902 

366 

4 

46 

39 

11 

1835-45 

5,500 

1 

31,740 

620,229 

3,381 

53,394 

631 

480 

11 

11 

Deduct  5  q. 

494 

1 

2,924 

77,972 

6,274 

146 

116 

4 

5 

23  1-2  yrs. 

5,006 

28,816 

542,257 

3,381 

47,120 

485 

334 

7 

6 

Add  5  qrs. 

• 

8,839 

161,201 

5 

13,648 

23 

3 

• 

Oct.  1, 

1836-46. 

5,006 

37,655 

703,458 

3,386 

60,768 

508  334 

. 

10 

f> 

NUMBER    OK    FOREIGN    PASSENGERS. 
TABLE  I.— Continued. 


s.  c. 

GA. 

LOUIS'A. 

ALA. 

FLORIDA. 

TEX. 

D.  C. 

SLATE 
STATES. 

UNITED 
STATES. 

1 

4 

i 

I 

t 

c 

a 

I 

^ 

j 

.2 

^ 

^0 

c 

o>  c 

d 

J 

! 

| 

o 

i 

o 

« 

B 
— 

j 

gl 

1 

1 

0 

• 

z, 

% 

•< 

w 

6 

0 

h 

H 

685 

116 

281 

_ 

. 

_ 

132 

1,905 

5,993 

415 

63 

. 

23 

. 

. 

34 

12 

1,5(58 

7,329 

15 

. 

13 

. 

. 

35 

1,767    6,749 

78 

. 

6 

. 

. 

62 

. 

1,438    7,088 

301 

11 

224 

. 

121 

. 

. 

145 

_ 

1,727    8,532 

171 

- 

555 

. 

. 

. 

. 

11 

. 

1,916   10,151 

8 

. 

. 

. 

. 

14 

. 

2,304 

12,418 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

86 

. 

3,868 

26,114 

- 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

24,459 

168 

. 

2,378 

. 

. 

. 

. 

_ 

5,791 

27,153 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

23,074 

. 

- 

216 

. 

. 

89 

. 

9,527 

45,287 

124 

. 

3,489 

„ 

. 

. 

. 

46 

. 

10,317 

56,547 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

110 

. 

11,908 

65,335 

- 

. 

. 

. 

. 

55 

. 

8,741 

52,899 

448 

. 

3,356 

„ 

. 

. 

. 

25 

. 

8,385 

62,473 

280 

. 

. 

m 

184 

m 

lu 

_ 

13,392 

78,083 

404 

. 

8,339 

. 

. 

131 

m 

18 

m 

16,360 

59,363 

. 

8,691 

. 

. 

67 

. 

15 

_ 

14,369 

52,163 

. 

11.17.-. 

. 

. 

1 

. 

22 

. 

18,833 

84,146 

231 

. 

10,415 

. 

. 

15 

. 

179 

_ 

18,606 

83,504 

. 

11,353 

. 

. 

14 

. 

98 

. 

17,305 

101,107 

38 

. 

11,864 

. 

„ 

23 

. 

11 

a 

16,887 

75,159 

304 

. 

6,331 

. 

. 

71 

. 

13 

. 

10,349 

74,607 

. 

11,681 

. 

. 

81 

. 

13 

. 

18,305 

102,415 

311 

. 

24,870 

. 

. 

29 

354 

5 

. 

34,256 

147,051 

110 

- 

1,568 

• 

• 

12 

- 

15 

- 

6,700 

55,106 

6,935 

228 

144,938 

216 

628 

354 

1,880 

12 

268,828 

1,354,305 

RECAPITULATION. 


1,824 

2,153 

. 

163 

. 

_ 

408 

12 

8,405 

35.691 

1,030 

8 

8,414 

. 

. 

. 

. 

680 

. 

18,675 

100,295 

. 

17,216 

_ 

. 

_ 

374 

. 

48,001 

243,142 

. 

39,073 

. 

. 

383 

. 

84 

. 

71,339 

336,228 

1,105 

. 

61,644 

. 

m 

204 

. 

314 

. 

81,452 

436,792 

6,511 

228 

118,500 

216 

163 

587 

_ 

1,860 

12 

227.872 

1,152,148 

2,854 

228 

10,567 

.. 

163 

„ 

. 

1,088 

12 

27^080 

135,986 

2,552 

. 

56,289 

216 

. 

383 

. 

'458 

. 

119,340 

579,370 

228 

66,856 

216 

163 

383 

- 

1,546 

12 

146,420 

715,356 

3,181 

_ 

90,717 

. 

_ 

587 

. 

398 

. 

152,791 

773,020 

- 

4,178 

- 

- 

- 

- 

31 

- 

11,278 

89,250 

2,687 

. 

86.539 

. 

. 

587 

. 

367 

. 

141,513 

683,770 

- 

26,438 

- 

- 

41 

354 

20 

- 

40,956 

202,157 

3,111 

. 

112,977 

. 

. 

628 

354 

387 

. 

182,469 

885,927 

10  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

The  whole  number  of  foreigners  registered  at  the  cus- 
tom-houses, and  reported  to  Congress,  during  these  26 
years,  is  1,354,305,  of  whom  880,343,  or  65-00  per  cent,  of 
the  whole  arrived  at  New  York ;  144,938,  or  1070  per 
cent.,  at  New  Orleans ;  105,799,  or  7-81  per  cent.,  at  Balti- 
more; 75,204,  or  5-55  per  cent.,  at  Boston;  71,627,  or  5-28 
per  cent,,  at  Philadelphia.  Total  in  these  five  places, 
1,277,911,  or  94-35  per  cent. 

The  number  of  passengers  from  foreign  countries,  arriv- 
ing at  the  different  ports  of  the  United  States,  may  be 
regarded  as  very  fully  representing  the  comparative  amount 
of  the  commercial  intercourse  of  these  places  with  foreign 
countries. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  number  of  foreign  immigrants  reg- 
istered has  very  much  increased  during  the  26  years.  In 
the  five  quiquennial  periods,  it  has  successively  averaged 
per  annum  7,138,  20,209,  48,628,  67,245  and  87,358.  In 
the  first  10  years  from  Oct.  1,  1820  to  Sept.  30,  1830,  it 
was  148,356;  and  in  the  last  10  years  from  Oct.  1.  1836 
to  Sept.  30,  1846,  885,927,  or  nearly  six  times  as  great. 

Considering  the  large  number  who  have  arrived  in  1846 
and  1847,  the  number  will  amount  to  very  near  1,000,000 
registered  during  the  10  years,  ending  June  30,  1847,  as 
will  appear  by  the  following : 

The  whole  number  registered  in  the  10  years  from  Oct.  1,  1836  to 

Sept.  30,  1846,  was  -  -  885,927 

From  which  deduct  for  the  3  quarters  from  Oct.  1,  1836  to  June 

30,  1837,  -  -  -  51,306 

And  we  have  for  9  1-4  years,  .....   834,621 

To  which  add  the  number  for  the  3  quarters  from  Oct.  1, 

1846  to  June  30,  1847,— registered  at  Boston,  -  -  12,527 

"        at  New  York,          -  96,807 

109,334 
Add  also  the  number  registered  at  the  other  custom-houses, 


INCREASE    OF    FOREIGN    PASSENGERS.  11 

during  the  3  quarters,  estimated  according  to  their  pro- 
portion for  26  previous  years,  (as  955,547  :  398,958  : — 
:  109,334  :)  -  45,626 

—    154,960 

And  we  have  for  the  10  years  from  July  I,  1837  to  June  30,  1847,    989,581 
or  10,419  less  than  1,000,000.    But  if  we  take  the  period  of  10 
years  from  Oct.  1,  1837  to  Sept.  30,  1847,  the  number  will 
considerably  exceed  a  million,  the  number  having  been  much 
increased  in  the  last  few  years,  and  especially  in  1847. 

If  to  the  whole  number  of  foreigners  registered  for  26  years,  1,354,305 

we  add  the  estimated  number  for  3  quarters,     ...    154,960 

We  have  i  j  .-ars,      -  -  1,509,265 

From  which  deduct  for  3  quarters  from  Oct.  1,  1820  to  June  30, 

1821,       -  -       5,993 

And  we  hare  for  26  years,  prior  to  July  1,  1847,      -  1,503,272 

1  net  1621- 7,329 


And  we  have  for  the  25  years,  prior  to  July  1,  1847,  1,495,943 

The  number  for  the  25  years  prior  to  Oct.  1,  1847,  would 
be  considerably  more  than  a  million  and  a  half. 

In  the  next  table  (II.)  it  will  be  seen  that  there  has  been 
a  great  difference  in  the  number  of  those  that  arrived  in 
the  several  quarters,  that  in  the  2d  quarter,  ending  June 
30,  being  the  greatest,  and  that  in  the  1st  quarter,  ending 
March  31,  being  the  least.  It  will  also  be  seen,  that  a 
little  less  than  half  (45*08  per  cent.)  of  the  whole  number, 
arrived  in  the  first  half  of  the  year. 


12 


FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 


TABLE  II. — Exhibiting  the  Number  of  Foreign  Passengers  arriving  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  and  registered  at  the  Custom-Houses,  for  each  Quarter,  for  26 
years  Jrom  Oct.  1,  1820  to  Sept.  30,  1846. 


YEARS. 

3d  Quarter. 

4th  Quarter. 

1st  Quarter. 

2d  Quarter. 

TOTAL. 

1820-21 
1821-22 
1822-23 
1823-24 
1824-25 

1825-26 
1826-27 
1827-28 
1828-29 
1829-30 

1830-31 
1831-32 
1832-33 
1833-34 
1834-35 

1835-36 
1836-37 
1837-38 
1838-39 
1839-40 

1840-41 
1841-42 
1842-43 
1843-44 
1844-45 

1845-46 
1846  (1  qr.) 

3,236 
2,792 
2,352 
2,929 

2,612 
1,906 
1,630 
1,794 
1,611 

1,717 
408 
827 
738 
615 

1,664 
1,779 
1,500 
2,204 
3,377 

5,993 
7,329 
6,749 
7,088 
8,532 

4,100 
4,407 
10,772 
11,877 
9,297 

1,852 
2,314 
4,209 
3,876 
5,181 

795 
1,230 
2,107 
1,620 
1,996 

3,422 
4,467 
9,026 
7,086 
10,679 

10,151 
12,418 
26,114 
24,459 
27,153 

12,368 
11,390 
25,877 
25,411 
26,013 

2,176 
5,579 
7,174 
9,413 
9,163 

1,773 
5,818 
2,935 
2,738 
2,107 

6,757 
22,500 
20,561 
27,773 
15,617 

23,074 
45,287 
56,547 
65,335 
52,899 

19,523 
26,777 
32,021 
13,618 
26,457 

8,227 
15;420 
10,138 
10,475 
15,982 

3,365 
6,447 
3;706 
4,589 
6,317 

31,358 
29,439 
13,498 
23,481 
35,390 

62,473 
78,083 
59,363 
52,163 
84,146 

31,728 
25,449 
32,280 
25,868 
33,516 

12,971 
17,581 
15,649 
8,699 
17,401 

5,809 
6,503 
4,212 
4,921 
8,588 

32,996 
51,574 
23,018 
35,119 
42,910 

83,504 
101,107 
75,159 
74,607 
102,415 

47,237 
55,106 

28,339 

10,770 

60,705 

147,051 
55,106 

RE  CAPITULATION 


1820-25 

11,309 

9,553 

4,305 

10,524 

35,691 

1825-30 

40,453 

17,432 

7,730 

34,680 

100,295 

1830-35 

101,059 

33,504 

15,371 

93,208 

243,142 

1835-40 

118,396 

60,242 

24,424 

133,166 

336,228 

1840-45 

148,841 

72,301 

30,033 

185,617 

436,792 

1845-46 

102,343 

28,339 

10,770 

60,705 

202,157 

1820-30 

51,762 

26,985 

12,035 

45,204 

135,986 

1830-40 

219,455 

93,746 

39,795 

226,374 

579,370 

1840-46 

251,184 

100,640 

40,803 

246,322 

638,949 

1820-46 

522,401 

221,371 

92,633 

517,900 

1,354,305 

Proportion, 

38-57 

16-35 

6-84 

38-24 

100- 

PROPORTION    OF    FOREIGNERS    TO    THE    WHOLE    INCREASE.        13 

In  the  next  table  (HI.)  we  propose  to  show  the  propor- 
tion which  foreigners  constitute  of  the  increase  of  the  pop- 
it  la /ion  of  the  United  States.  The  first  column  shows  the 
years;  the  second,  the  number  of  persons  in  the  United 
States  for  1820,  1830  and  1840,  according  to  the  censuses 
of  those  years,  the  number  for  the  intermediate  years,  on 
the  supposition  of  a  uniform  rate  of  increase  during  each 
year  of  a  decade  of  years,  and  the  number  after  1840, 
on  the  supposition  of  the  rate  continuing  as  it  averaged 
the  It)  preceding  years;  the  third,  the  average  amount 
per  annum  of  the  increase  of  population ;  the  fourth,  the 
number  of  foreign  passengers  registered  at  the  custom- 
houses, that  is,  passengers,  exclusive  of  those  born  in  the 
I'nitrd  States;  thejifth,  half  the  number  of  foreign  passen- 
gers, which  half  are  presumed  to  have  arrived  " elsewhere;" 
the  sixth,  the  "  total"  of  those  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  col- 
umns ;  and  the  seventh  and  eighth,  the  proportion  of  the 
l(  total"  foreigners  to  the  whole  increase  of  the  population 
from  1820  to  1846.  The  years  comprehending  the  number 
of  foreigners  in  the  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth  columns,  begin 
July  1  and  end  June  30,  a  point  of  time  one  month  before 
August  1,  when  the  census  of  1820  was  taken,  and  one 
month  later  than  June  1,  when  those  of  1830  and  1840 
were  taken.  July  1,  for  the  commencement  of  the  year, 
seemed  to  be  a  point  of  time  best  adapted  to  the  purposes 
of  the  comparison. 


14 


FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 


TABLE  TIL — Exhibiting  the  Proportion  of  Foreign  Immigrants  to  the  Increase  of  the 
Population  of  the  United  States. 


FOREIGN   PASSENGERS. 

YEARS. 

Population. 

Average  An* 
nual  Increase. 

Custom-  house 

Elsewhere. 

Total. 

Per  ct. 

Proportion. 

1820-21 

9,638,191 

282,465 

5,993 

2,9964 

8,9894 

3-18 

1  to  31-43 

1821-22 

9,920,656 

290,743 

7,329 

3,6644 

10,9934 

7-78 

26-45 

1822-23 

10,211,399 

299,264 

6,749 

3,3744 

10,1234 

3-38 

29-57 

1823-24 

10,510,663 

308,035 

7,088 

3,544 

10,632 

3-45 

28-98 

1824-25 

10,818,698 

317,062 

8,532 

4,266 

12,798 

4-03 

24-78 

1825-26 

11,135,760 

326,354 

10,151 

5,0754 

15,2264 

4-66 

21-46 

1826-27 

11.462,114 

335,919 

12,418 

6,209 

18,627 

5-54 

18-04 

1827-28 

11,798,033 

345,763 

26,114 

13,057 

39,171 

11-32 

8-83 

1828-29 

12,143,796 

355,897 

24,459 

12,2294 

36,6884 

10-30 

9-71 

1829-30 

12,499,693 

366,327 

27,153 

13,5764 

40,7294 

11-11 

900 

1830-31 

12,866,020 

368,914 

23,074 

11,537 

34,611 

938 

10-66 

1831-32 

13,234,934 

379,491 

45,287 

22,6434 

67,8304 

17-90 

5-59 

1832-33 

13,614,425 

390,373 

56,547 

28,2734 

84,8204 

21-72 

4-61 

1833-34 

14,004,798 

401,565 

65,335 

32,6674 

98,0024 

24-40 

4-10 

1834-35 

14,406,363 

413,082 

52,899 

26,4894 

79,3884 

19-21 

521 

1835-36 

14,819,445 

424,925 

62,473 

31,2364 

93,7094 

22-05 

4-54 

1836-37 

15,244,370 

437,109 

78,083 

39.0414 

117,1244 

26-79 

3-74 

1837-38 

15,681,479 

449,642 

59,363 

29,6814 

89,0444 

19-80 

5-05 

1838-39 

16,131,121 

462,535 

52,163 

26,0814 

78,2444 

16-91 

5-92 

1839-40 

16,593,656 

475,798 

84,146 

42,073 

126,219 

26-52 

3-77 

1840-41 

17,069,454 

489,441 

83.504 

41,752 

125,256 

25-59 

3-91 

1841-42 

17,558,895 

503,474 

10l',107 

50,5534 

151,6604 

30-12 

3-32 

1842-43 

18,062,369 

517,911 

75,159 

37,5794     112,738* 

21-76 

4-60 

1843-44 

18,580,280 

532,761 

74,607 

37,3034 

111,9104 

21-05 

4-77 

1844-15 
1845-46 

19,113,041 
19,661,078 

548,037 
563,752 

102,415 
147,051 

51,2074 
73,5254 

153,6224 
220,5764 

28-03 
39-12 

3-57 
2-56 

1846  3d  qr. 

- 

- 

55,106 

27,553 

82,659 

- 

- 

Total  26  ys. 

- 

- 

1,354,305 

677,15242,031,4574 

- 

-      - 

RC APITUL ATION 


1820-25 

51,099,607 

1,497,569 

35,691 

17,8454 

53,5364 

3-57 

1  to  27  -98 

1825-30 

59,039,396 

1,730,260 

100,295 

50,1474 

150,4424 

8-69 

11-51 

1830-35 

68,126,540 

1,953,425     243,142 

121,571 

364,753 

18-67 

5-36 

1835-40 

78,470,071 

2,250,009     336,228 

168,114 

504,342 

22-41 

4-47 

1840-45 

90,384,039 

2,591,624     436,792 

218,396 

655,188 

25-28 

3-96 

1845-46 

19,661,078 

563,752     147,051 

73,5254 

220,5764 

39-12 

2-56 

1820-30 

110,139,003 

3,227,829 

135,986 

67,993 

203,979 

6-31 

1  to  15-83 

1830-40 

146,596,611 

4,203,434 

579,370 

289,685 

869,055 

20-67 

4-84 

1840-46 

110,045,117 

3,155,376 

583,843 

29L92U 

875,7644 

27-75 

3-63 

PROPORTION    OF    FOREIGNERS    TO    THE    WHOLE    INCREASE.        15 

It  will  be  seen  by  inspecting  this  table,  that  the  number 
of  foreign  immigrants  annually  registered  at  the  custom- 
houses, has  been  very  unequal,  but  in  general  it  has  been 
steadily  increasing  from  year  to  year  since  1820.  Their 
proportion  per  annum  to  the  whole  increase  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  country,  has,  according  to  the  table,  increased 
over  twelve  fold  during  the  26  years  of  the  series,  or  from 
3*18  to  30-1'J  /icr  r/>nt.  The  first  year,  however,  embraced 
only  throe  (Barters,  and  the  proportion  since  1840  is  based 
on  the  supposition  that  the  average  rate  of  the  increase  of 
the  population  has  continued  the  same  as  it  was  during  the 
10  years  before. 

^  <•  apprehend  that  the  registry  of  the  custom-houses 
during  the  lo  years  from  1820  to  1830,  was  very  imper- 
.uid  of  eoiirs.-  little  to  he  depended  upon,  for,  besides 
tin1  liability  of  very  imperfect  registration  in  the  first  few 
I,  in  a  matter  of  this  kind,  there  is  much  reason  to 
believe.  as  \vill  hereafter  be  shown,  that  the  number  of 
jners,  as  collected  by  individuals  interested  in  the  sub- 
ject,* amounted  to  over  30,000  in  1817  and  in  1818,  while 
that  number  was  not  officially  registered  till  1832. 

Neither  can  we  depend  upon  the  proportion  of  immi- 
grants to  the  whole  increase  since  1840,  for  we  have  no 
means  of  determining  the  average  amount  of  increase  per 
annum  from  1840  to  1846,  there  having  been  no  census  of 
the  population  of  the  United  States  taken  since  1840.  We 
kno\v,  however,  that  the  number  of  immigrants  has  very 
much  increased  during  the  last  few  years.  There  is  much 
reason  for  believing  that  the  number  will  amount  to  300,000 
for  the  year  from  Oct.  1,  1846  to  Sept.  30,  1847,  which  is 
not  embraced  in  the  table.  The  conclusion  we  come  to  is, 
that  the  second  decade  of  years  from  1830  to  1840,  pre- 
sents the  safest  ground  for  a  just  comparison.  We  have, 

*See  Appendix. 


16  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

however,  carried  out  the  proportion  to  1846,  in  order  to 
exhibit  the  influence  which  immigration  has  been  exerting 
of  late  years  in  swelling  the  numbers  of  our  population. 

As  the  official  registry  is  undoubtedly  very  imperfect, 
and  as  it  is  well  known  that  large  numbers  come  into  the 
states  by  Canada,  Nova  Scotia  and  elsewhere,  without 
being  reported  and  registered  at  the  custom-houses,  we 
have  added  50  per  cent,  to  the  number  registered,  on 
account  of  omissions  in  the  registry,  in  order  to  obtain  the 
whole  number.  If  the  reader  thinks  this  addition  too 
large,  it  will  be  easy  for  him  to  assume  a  less  addition,  or  to 
follow  the  official  account  itself. 

The  whole  increase  of  the  population  of  the  United  States 
in  the  first  decade,  embracing  9  years  and  10  months  only, 
from  Aug.  1,  1820  to  June  1, 1830,  was  3,227,829,  of  whom 
the  estimated  number  of  foreigners  immigrating  during  the 
period  was  203,979,  including  135,986  registered  at  the 
custom-houses,  and  50  per  cent,  or  67,993  more  coming 
into  the  states  elsewhere.  These  being  deducted  from  the 
whole  increase,  we  have  3,023,850  as  the  increase  by  birth. 
to  be  distributed  among  the  people  in  the  country  in  1820, 
and  the  foreigners  immigrating  during  the  period,  both 
parties  being  presumed  to  be  equally  prolific.  These 
two  classes  of  population  are  very  nearly  equivalent  to 
(110,139,003  +  203,979)  110,342,982  for  one  year.  We 
make  this  proportion  :  as  the  whole  population,  110,342,982, 
is  to  the  whole  increase  by  birth,  3,023,850,  so  is  the  aggre- 
gate of  foreign  immigrants,  203,979,  to  their  increase 
by  birth,  5,590,  which,  deducted  from  3,023,850,  leave 
3,018,260  as  the  increase  by  birth  in  10  years  from  1820, 
of  those  who  were  in  the  country  in  1820.  These  5,590, 
added  to  203,979,  make  209,569  as  the  amount  of  increase 
in  consequence  of  the  immigration  of  foreigners  in  these  10 
years, — which  is  6*49  per  cent,  of  the  ivhole  increase,  or  1 
to  15-64  of  it. 


COMPARATIVE    INCREASE    OF    FOREIGNERS.  17 

The  whole  increase  in  10  years,  from  1820,  was  3,227,829, 
or  33-48  per  cent.,  but  the  natural  increase  in  10  years  of 
tin-  9,638,191  in  the  country  in  1820,  was,  according  to  the 
above  view,  3,018,260,  or  31-31  per  cent,  of  9,638,191,  and 
the  increase  in  consequence  of  foreign  immigration  209,569, 
or  2-17  per  rent,  of  that  number.  These  two  sums  amount 
to  33*48  per  cent.  By  comparing  this  result  with  what  we 
shall  find  in  relation  to  the  increase  in  the  next  10  years, 
we  are  led  to  the  belief  that  the  official  registration  of  for- 
ti  •_;•//  if/i  nil  L:  rd/t/.-  <  nj  murk  too  small  for  the  period 

ft»ni  l^-jo  in  I^:;u.  and  are  confirmed  in  the  opinion  that 
////•  r<  L'ixtnii'ntn  from-  1830  to  1840  is  much  more  to  be 
<l>  l><  nil rii  u/ton. 

In  the  10  years  from  lS)o  to  IS  10.  the  number  of  foreign 
iininiirrants  was  more  than  four  times,  and  the  pro/toriion 
of  their  wholi-  increase  more  than  three  times  what  it  was  in 
•  I'Mv.lmir  10  years.  The  number  in  the  table  was 
N.'.H >">.  after  deducting  which  from  4,203,434,  the  whole 
increase,  there  remain  3,3: 1 1.37'.»  as  the  increase  by  birth,  to 
}><•  distributed  among  the  people  in  the  country  in  1830. 
and  the  foreign  immigrants.  We  make  an  approximation 
to  this  distribution  by  means  of  the  following  proportion: 
as  (lir>::,%,611+86\)?or>r,==)  147,465,666:  3,334,379:: 
869,055  :  19,650,  the  estimated  natural  increase  of  the  for- 
eign immigrants  after  their  arrival  and  before  1840.  This 
number  being  deducted  from  3,334,379,  there  remain 
3,31 1,729  as  the  increase  by  birth,  or  the  natural  increase 
during  this  decade  of  those  in  the  country  in  1830.  If  we 
add  19,650  to  869,055,  we  have  888,705  as  this  decennial 
increase  arising  from  foreign  immigration,  which  is  more 
than  a  fifth  part  of  the  whole  increase,  and  more  than  a 
quarter  of  that  of  those  in  the  country  in  1830.  The  in- 
crease of  3,314,729  in  10  years,  among  a  population  of 
12,866,020,  is  25-763431,  &c.  per  cent. 

The  whole  increase  from  1830  to  1840,  was  4,203,434, 
3 


18  FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 

or  32 -67  per  cent.  ;  but  the  natural  increase  in  the  10  years, 
of  the  12,866,020  in  the  country  in  1830,  was  3,314,729,  or 
25-76  per  cent.,  to  which  if  we  add  the  increase  of  888,705, 
in  consequence  of  foreign  immigration,  or  6*90  per  cent.,  we 
have  32  W  per  cent.  Here  is  a  difference  of  (31-31— 25-75=) 
5-56  per  cent,  in  the  natural  increase  of  the  population  of 
the  country,  in  two  successive  periods  of  10  years  each, — 
which  seems  very  extraordinary,  and  for  which  there  does 
not  appear  any  adequate  cause  without  ascribing  it  to  a 
foreign  source.  If  we  deduct  from  the  increase  of  6*90  per 
cent.,  arising  from  foreign  immigration  in  the  second  decade, 
2-17  per  cent.,  the  amount  in  the  first  decade,  we  have  4-73 
per  cent,  of  9,638,191,  or  456/178,  which  being  added  to 
209,569,  amount  to  665,747  for  the  first  decade,  and  this 
last  sum  bears  the  same  proportion  to  9,638,191,  the  whole 
population  in  1820,  that  888,705,  the  increase  from  foreign 
immigration  in  the  second  decade,  does  to  12,866,020,  the 
whole  population  in  1830. 

But  properly  the  comparison  should  be  made  with  the 
white  population  of  the  United  States  only,  as  the  immi- 
grants of  whom  we  are  speaking  are  of  this  class,  there 
having  been,  it  is  presumed,  very  few  if  any  colored  per- 
sons introduced  into  the  country  during  the  last  10  years. 
The  increase  of  the  whites  from  1830  to  1840,  was  from 
10,537,378  to  14,195,866,  or  3,658,428,  from  which  deduct 
888,705,  and  we  have  2,769,723  for  the  amount  in  the  10 
years,  or  26-284745,  &c.  per  cent. 

At  the  rate  of  increase  of  25-76,  &c.  per  cent,  in  10 
years,  the  population  would  be  doubled  in  a  little  more 
than  30  years,  and  at  the  rate  of  26-28,  &c.  per  cent.,  in  a 
little  less  time,  while  for  the  50  years  from  1790  to  1840, 
the  average  time  of  the  actual  duplication  of  the  whole 
population  of  the  United  States,  has  been  a  little  more  than 
23  years  and  7  months,  or  more  exactly,  23-5938,  &c.  years, 
which  is  about  7  years  less  time  than  it  would  have  been 
without  the  aid  of  foreign  immigration. 


FOREIGNERS    COMPARED    WITH   THE    WHITE    POPULATION.        19 

The  actual  increase  of  the  white  population  of  the 
United  States,  from  1830  to  1840,  was,  as  just  stated, 
3,658,428,  or  3471  per  cent. ;  of  the  free  states  2,686,546, 
or  39-06  per  cent.,  and  of  the  slave  states  971,882,  or  26-54 
cnt.,  being  greater  than  the  natural  increase,  averaging 
through  the  United  States,  by  S'43,  12-78  and  -26  per  cent. 
respectively,  and  showing  a  great  difference  between  the 
two  sections  of  the  country.  This  difference  has  arisen 
partly  from  the  greater  foreign  immigration  into  the  free 
will  appear  on  reference  to  Table  I.,  the  amount 
tin  re  being  as  4  to  1,  and  the  proportion  as  2  to  1  nearly  in 
favor  of  the  free  states. 

The  whole  number  of  foreign  immigrants  registered  at  the  custom- 
houses of  the  United  States,  in  10  years  from  July  1,  1830  to 
June  30,  1840,  was  -  -  579,370 

Add  50  per  cent,  on  account  of  omissions,     -  -  -   289,685 

I  increase  of  foreign  immigrants,        -  -     19,650 

Total,  -  888,705 

Of  whom  the  number  of  immigrants  that  entered  the 

FREE  STATES         SLAVE  STATES 

was         ....  460,030  119,340 

Add  50  per  cent.         -  230,015  59,670 

Proportion  of  their  natural  increase,  15,602  4,048 

Total,         -  705,647  183,058 

After  deducting  705,647  from  2,686,546,  the  whole  in- 
crease of  the  whites  in  the  free  states,  we  have  remaining 
1,980,899,  which  is  28-806303,  <fcc.  per  cent,  of  6,876,620, 
the  number  of  the  whites  in  1830.  This  is  a  rate  of  in- 
crease of  2-52  per  cent,  more  than  the  average  of  the  whole 
country. 

After  deducting  183,058  from  971,882,  the  whole  increase 
of  the  whites  in  the  slave  states,  we  have  788,824  for  the 
amount  of  their  natural  increase,  which  is  21*548105,  &c. 
per  cent,  of  3,660,758,  their  number  in  1830,  or  4-74  per 
rrnf.  tess  than  the  average  in  the  whole  country,  and  7-26 


20 


FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 


per  cent,  less  than  that  in  the  free  states.  Besides,  it  is 
confidently  believed  that  more  white  persons  emigrate  from 
the  free  to  the  slave  states,  than  from  the  slave  to  the  free 
states. 

Assuming  26 -28  per  cent,  as  the  average  rate  of  increase 
in  each  10  years  from  1790,  of  the  white  population  in  the 
United  States,  28-80  per  cent,  that  of  the  the  free  states, 
and  21.54  per  cent,  that  in  the  slave  states,  we  will  now 
consider  their  numbers,  including  the  natural  increase,  at 
the  dates  of  the  censuses  at  the  end  of  the  50  years.  The 
result,  of  course,  is  to  be  regarded  only  as  an  approxima- 
tion ;  but  we  are  confident  that  these  rates  must  be  entitled 
to  important  consideration  in  the  inquiry  into  the  compo- 
nent parts  and  progress  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States.  According  to  these  rates,  the  amount  of  the  white 
population,  including  their  natural  increase,  and  exclusive 
of  foreign  immigration,  will  be  in  the  several  years  as  fol- 
lows: 


1790. 

1800. 

1810. 

1820. 

1830. 

1840. 

Free  States,      - 
Slave  States,    - 

1,901,016 
1,271,488 

2,448,667 
1,545,470 

3,154,038 
1,878,490 

4,062,600 
2,283,269 

5,232,825 
2,775,270 

6,740,209 
3,373,288 

Aggregate, 
Differences, 

3,172,534 

3,994,137 

2,290 

5,032,528 
26,978 

6,345,869 
43,515 

8,008,095 
60,722 

10,113,497 

76,188 

Original  States  and  Ter'y, 
Add  Louisiana, 
Add  Florida     • 

3,172,534 

3,996,427 

5.059,506 
34,311 

6,389,384 
41,704 

8,068,817 
50,691 

10,189,685 
61,622 
22  347 

Total,       .... 
Foreign  Immigration, 

3,172,534 

3,996,427 
307,678 

5,093,817 

768,187 

6,431,088 
1,430,906 

8,137,893 
2,399,485 

10,273,654 
3,922,152 

Total  White  Popula.  U.  S. 

3,172,534 

4,304,105 

5,862,004 

7,861,994 

10,537,378 

14,195,806 

The  differences  arising  from  the  different  rates  of  increase 
of  the  parts,  are  to  be  distributed  among  the  two  divisions, 
in  the  proportion  of  50,776  to  the  free  states,  making  their 
number,  in  1840,  6,790,985,  and  of  25,412  to  the  slave 
states,  and  also  the  83,969  of  the  states  of  Louisiana  and 
Florida,  added  to  the  Union  since  1790,  making  the  white 
population  of  the  slave  states  3,482,669.  The  aggregate 


FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION    SINCE    1790. 


21 


of  these  two  divisions  of  the  states  and  territories  within 
the  present  limits  of  the  union,  comprehending  the  white 
population  in  1790  and  their  natural  increase,  together 
with  those  in  the  annexed  territory,  make  the  total,  in 
1840,  10,273,654,  or  less  than  the  number  in  the  sixth  cen- 
sus by  3,922,152.  These  3,922,152  are  presumed  to  be  com- 
posed of  foreigners  and  the  descendants  of  foreigners,  who 
immiirratod  into  the  country  from  1790  to  1840.  We  have 
deduced  these  amounts  of  foreigners  coming  into  the  coun- 
try in  each  10  years,  according  to  the  number  888,705  who 
from  1SJM  to  1840,  and  added  20  28,  &c.  per  cent,  for 
mbk  following  term.  Thus:  as  10,537,378:  888.705:: 
:;i;  _'-.;;  267,663  lor  the  foreign  immigration  from  17(.K) 
to  1800,  &c.  These  8  multiplied  by  26-28,  &c.,  give 

for  thru    amount,  including   their   natural   increase  in  10 
years,  337,996  in  IS  10,  &c. 


Foreign  Immigra'n  from  1790  to  1800, 
•  lo  1610, 

1H90  to  1830, 
183t> 

Differences,       

iviirii  Population  in  U.  8.    - 

1800.    1    1810. 

1820. 

1830. 

1840. 

967,567 

237,996 
363,001 

426.83S 
458,415 
494,392 

5:39,031 
678,906 
624,342 
665,647 

6SO,714 
731,073 

788,449 
840,611 

888,705 

267,567        700.997 
-^0,111      —67,190 

1,379.645 
—51,261 

2,407,928 
+8,443 

3,929,552 
+7,400 

307,678        763,187     1,430,906 

2.:  $99,  4  "5 

3,922,152 

There  is  a  remarkable  agreement  between  these  results 
and  the  censuses  of  the  United  States.  The  rate  of  26-28, 
»r  rent,  is  a  very  little  too  large  for  the  result  in  1830 
and  1840.  At  the  preceding  dates,  the  numbers  from  for- 
I'iiru  immiirration  are  less  than  the  estimated  numbers  from 
this  source,  as  appears  in  the  line  of  differences;  from 
which  it  seems  that  the  proportional  increase  of  the  whole 
white  population  of  the  United  States  was  greater  in  the 
first  two  decennial  periods  than  in  the  last  two.  It  should, 
however,  be  observed,  that  some  have  supposed  that  the 
census  of  1790  was  more  defective  than  the  subsequent 


22 


FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 


ones,  on  account  of  the  reluctance  with  which  the  people 
furnished  the  facts  to  the  agents  of  the  government.  But 
when  we  consider  the  rate  of  increase,  according  to  the 
censuses,  from  1790  to  1800,  was  less  than  from  1800  to 
1810,  we  may  dismiss  this  idea  of  there  having  been  com- 
paratively great  defects  as  to  the  number  of  persons  in  the 
first  census. 

The  whole  increase  of  the  white  population  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  from  1830  to  1840,  was  3,658,428,  of  whom 
888,705,  as  above  estimated,  consisted  of  immigrant  for- 
eigners during  the  decade  and  their  children,  or  24-29  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  number.  From  what  has  been  said, 
we  are  inclined  to  the  following  as  a  nearer  approximation 
to  the  numbers  and  proportions  since  1790,  than  has  just 
been  given  : 


Increase  of 
the  whites. 


Total 
rht.  popul. 

Foreign  immigration  from  1790  to  1800,  includ- 
ing the  immigrants  and  their  children,  from 

their  arrival  to  the  next  census,      -        -        -    307,678     27-18          7-14 
Their  natural  increase  at  the  rate  of  26-28,  &c. 

per  cent,  in  10  years, 80,872 

Foreign  immigration  as  above,  from  1800  to 

1810, 379,637     24-36 

Foreign  population  in  1810,       ....   768,187     -      .         13-10 
Their  natural  increase  at  the  above  rate,  in  10 

years,    -  201,916 

Foreign  immigration  as  above,  from  1810  to 

1820, 460,803     23-04 

Foreign  population  in  1820,       -        .        -          1,430,906      -      -         18-20 
Their  natural  increase  at  the  above  rate,  in  10 

years,    --.-___.    376,110 
Foreign  immigration  as  above,  from   1820  to 

183°>     -  592,469     22-04 

Foreign  population  in  1830,       -        -        -         2,399,485     -      -         22-77 
Their  natural  increase  at  the  above  rate,  in  10 

years, 630,699 

Foreign  immigration  as  above,  from  1830  to 

184°;     --------   891,968     24-32 

Foreign  population  in  1840,       -        -        -         3,922,152     -      -         27-62 


Proportion  per  cent,  of 
the  Foreigners  to  the 


FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION   SINCE    1790.  23 

This  result  for  the  foreign  immigration  from  1830  to 
,  including  the  immigrants  and  their  children  after 
their  arrival  to  June  1,  1840,  considerably  exceeds  the  ag- 
gregate of  those  registered  at  the  custom-houses^  and  the 
addition  of  50  per  cent.  We  feel  sure  from  this  result,  that 
the  number  of  persons  arriving  here  and  becoming  resi- 
dents in  this  country,  during  these  10  years,  cannot  much 
fall  short  of  being  50  per  cent,  greater  than  that  registered 
at  the  custom-houses ;  neither  can  it  be  much  less  than  the 
above  a<s  -  We  do  not  pretend  to  numerical  exact- 

but  we  think  the  rosult  is  suiiiciently  so  for  all  prac- 
tical or  scientific  purposes. 

Of  the  whole  increase  of  the  white  population  of  the  United  States, 
from  1790  to  1840,  in  consequence  of  foreign  immigration, 

was 3,922,152 

Their  natural  increase  "luring  the  respective  decades  was  : 

From  1800  to  1810,  .  .  .  80,872 

«     1810  to  1820,       .  .  .  201,916 

«     1820  to  1830,       .  .  .  376,110 

«     1830  to  1840,       .  .  .  630,099 

Amounting  to 1,289,597 

which  being  deducted  from  the  whole  number,  there  remain     2,632,555 
consisting  of  the  foreign  immigrants  of  their  increase  before 
the  next  census,  viz.  : 

From  1790  to  1800,   .  .  307,678 

«     1800  to  1810,   .  .  379,637 

"     1810  to  1820,    .  .  460,803 

«     1820  to  1830,    .  .  592,469 

"     1830  to  1840,   .  .  891,968 

By  taking  the  same  proportion  as  we  did  page  17,  we  find  that  the 
increase,  or  the  number  of  those  born  before  the  next  census,  be- 
sides making  good  the  number  of  immigrants,  amounted  to 
nearly  .  *54,354 

*The  agerejmte  of  the  population  of  the  United  States  from  1790  to  1800,  is  estimated  as 
equivalent  to  443,781, 935  for  one.  year,  to  which  add  2,632,555,  and  we  have  44fi,414,490.  The 
total  increase  was  13,139,557,  from  which  deduct  3,922,152,  and  we  have  9,217,405.  We  make 
the  proportion  :  as  446,414,490 :  9,217,405::  2,632,555:  54,354. 


24  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

To  which  add  the  above,         .....  1,289,597 

And  we  have  for  the  increase  of  the  foreign  population,  besides 

keeping  good  the  number  of  immigrants,  .  .  1,343,951 

If  we  deduct  54,354  from  2,632,555,  we  have  for  the  number  of  im- 
migrants arriving  during  the  50  years,  and  who  have  been  enumera- 
ted in  the  last  five  censuses,  ....  2,578,201 

And  we  have,  as  before,         .....  3,922,152 

for  the  increase  of  the  white  population  from  1790  to  1840,  in  con- 
sequence of  foreign  immigration. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  there  was  the  greatest  proportion 
of  the  number  arising  from  foreign  immigration  from  1790 
to  1800.  This  period  constituted  the  first  10  years  after 
the  organization  of  the  American  government,  and  also 
after  the  breaking  out  of  the  French  Revolution,  the  first 
event  being  calculated  to  attract  people  to  this  country, 
and  the  other  calculated  to  drive  many  to  it  as  a  place  of 
safety. 

In  the  next  10  years,  from  1800  to  1810,  the  proportion 
was  less,  but  yet  it  was  larger  than  in  any  of  the  subse- 
quent decades,  the  above  causes  still  operating. 

In  the  third  decade,  from  1810  to  1820,  the  immigration 
was  suspended  during  the  war  of  1812,  but  revived  in 
1816,  from  which  time  till  1820,  owing  to  the  distresses  in 
Europe,  and  the  encouragements  held  out  by  the  people 
and  institutions  of  this  country,  large  numbers,  particularly 
of  mechanics  and  farmers,  immigrated,  though  the  propor- 
tion was  less  than  in  the  preceding  decades. 

From  1820  to  1830,  the  proportion  was  22-04  per  cent. 
of  the  whole  increase  of  the  whites ;  and  in  the  last  de- 
cade, from  1830  to  1840,  it  was  24-32  per  cent. ;  and  from 
present  appearances,  the  proportion  from  1840  to  1850  will 
considerably  exceed  that  of  any  decade  from  1790  to  1840. 

It  will  be  perceived  by  the  last  column  of  the  last  table, 
that  the  proportion  of  the  aggregate  of  the  foreign  immi- 
grants from  1790,  and  of  their  descendants,  to  the  whole 


FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION   SINCE    1790.  25 

white  population  in  1790,  and  of  their  descendants  to  1800, 
was  7*14  per  ce?it.,  and  in  1840  it  had  arisen  to  27-62  per 
cent.  This  is  over  one  quarter  part  of  the  whole  number  ; 
and  considering  the  large  number  of  immigrants  since 
1840,  we  presume  that  the  proportion  is  now  (1847)  over 
one  third  part. 

It  is  obvious,  that,  should  the  number  of  immigrants 
continue  to  average  annually  about  the  same  it  has  done 
for  the  last  few  years,  and  the  present  facilities  to  the  bal- 
lot-box also  continue,  a  few  months  only  will  be  required 
for  the  introduction  of  foreigners  enough  to  decide  any 
presidential  election  we  have  had  for  many  years,  and  in 
general  to  decide  any  state  election  also,  parties  having  been 
NO  n«  arly  rijual  in  the  number  of  persons  supporting  them. 

The  rate  of  26-28,  &c.  per  cent,  for  the  decennial  increase 
of  the  white  population  above  (p.  18)  obtained,  in  order 
to  conform  to  the  last  results,  must  be  altered  to  26-253779, 
&c.  per  cent.,  as  will  appear  by  deducting  from  3,658,428, 
the  whole  white  increase,  891,968,  the  whole  increase 
arising  from  foreign  immigration  from  1830  to  1840,  and 
there  will  remain  2,766,460  as  the  natural  increase  of  those 
in  the  country  in  1830.  This  last  number  amounts  to 
:^»>  •J.'>3779,  <fcc.  per  cent,  of  10,537,378,  the  white  popula- 
tion in  1830.  The  difference  between  these  two  rates  of 
increase  is  less  than  one  thirtieth  part  of  one  per  cent. 

The  following  will  show  the  nearest  approximation  we 
can  make  to  the  number  of  foreigners  and  of  other  white 
persons  in  the  United  States  at  the  dates  of  the  censuses, 
according  to  the  censuses,  and  according  to  the  natural 
increase  of  26-25,  &c.  per  cent,  for  the  whole  country,  and 
21-529748,  &c.  per  cent.  (p.  27)  for  Louisiana  and  Florida, 
together  with  the  estimated  foreign  population  : 


FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 


Censuses, 

Population    and   natural 
increase, 


Louisiana, 


Florida,  - 

Foreign  population, 


1790. 


3,172,534 
3,172,534 


1800. 


4,304,105 
4,005,444 


293,661 


298,661 


1810. 


5,862,004 
5,057,025 


1820. 


7,861,994 

6,384,685 


804,979     1,477,309 
34,311          41,698 


770,663j    1,435,611 


770,668J    1,435,611 


1830. 


10,537,378 
8,060,906 


1840. 


14,195,806 
10,177,199 


2,476,472 
50,676 


2,425,796 
18,385 


2,407,411 


4,018,607 
61,591 


3,957,016 
22,343 


3,934,673 


The  following  will  show  nearly  the  number  of  foreign 
immigrants,  and  of  their  natural  increase  since  1790,  in 
decennial  periods : 


Foreign  immigration  from  1790  to  1800,  includ- 
ing the  immigrants  and  their  children,  from 
their  arrival  to  the  next  census, 


Increase  of 
the  whites. 


298,661 


Their  natural  increase  at  the  rate  of  26-25,  &c. 

per  cent,  in  10  years, 78,410 

Foreign  immigration  as  above,  from  1800  to 

1810, 393,597     25-26 

Foreign  population  in  1810,       ....    770,668     -      .         13-14 
Their  natural  increase  at  the  above  rate,  in  10 

years, 202,330 

Foreign  immigration  as  above,  from  1810  to 

1820, 462,613     23-13 

Foreign  population  in  1820,  1,435,611     -      -         18-51 

Their  natural  increase  at  the  above  rate,  in  10 

years, 376,902 

Foreign  immigration  as  above,  from   1820  to 

1830, 594,898     22-23 

Foreign  population  in  1830,       -        -        -         2,407,411      -      -         22-84 
Their  natural  increase  at  the  above  rate,  in  10 

years, 632,037 

Foreign  immigration  as  above,  from  1830  to 

1840, 891,968     24-38 

27-69 
Difference, '     3',257     -      -  -02 

Foreign  population  in  1840,        -        -        -         3,934,673     -      -         27-71 


Proportion  per  cent,  of 
the  Foreigners  to  the 


26-39 


Total 
wht.  popul. 


6-93 


The  whole  increase  of  the  white  population  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  from  1830  to  1840,  was  3,658,428,  of  which  we 


FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION    IN   THE    FREE   AND    SLAVE    STATES.       27 


deduced  above,  for  the  natural  increase  of  those  in  the 
country  in  1830,  2,766,460,  or  26-25,  &c.  pw  cent.,  and  for 
the  increase  arising  from  foreign  immigration,  891,968.  If 
this  last  number  be  distributed  to  the  two  divisions  of  the 
states  respectively,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  immi- 
grants registered  in  them  during  the  time,  708,238  will  be- 
long to  the  !><•<•  states  and  183,730  to  the  slave  states. 
After  deducting  708,238  from  2,686,546,  the  whole  increase 
of  the  whites  in  the  free  states,  we  have  1,978,308,  or 
28-768611,  <fcc.  per  cent,  of  6,876,620  for  their  natural  de- 
»il  incn-ase;  and  after  deducting  183,730  from  971,882, 
whole  increase  of  the  whites  in  the  slave  states,  we 
788,152,  or  21-529748,  &c.  per  cent,  of  3,660,758,  for 
natural  in>.  10  years.  The  difference  between 

/li<  s<  ttro  rates  of  increase  is  7*238863,  &c.  per  cent.  The 
operation  of  these  rates  in  the  two  divisions  will  be  seen 
in  the  next  table: 

TABLE  IV. — Exhibiting  the,  White  Population  of  the  United  States,  according 
to  the  Six  Censuses,  rcith  their  Decennial  Increase,  at  the  rate  of  28-76,  fyc.  per 
cent,  in  the  Free  States,  and  of  21-52,  fa.per  cent,  in  the  Slave  States,  together 
tcith  the  estimated  Number  arising  from  Foreign  Immigration. 

1. — FREE  STATES. 


1790. 

1800. 

1810. 

1820. 

1830. 

1840. 

Census  
Population  with  Increase, 

1,901,016 
1,901,046 

2,601,125 
2,447,951 

3,653,219 
3,152,193 

5,030,499 
4,059,035 

6,876,620 
5,226,763 

9,563,166 
6,730,430 

Foroicm  Population, 

15.-J.174 

501,026 

971,464 

1.649,857 

2,a32,736 

2. — SLAVS  STATES. 


Census,  . 
Population  with  Increase, 

1,271,488 
1,271,4** 

1,702,930 
1,545,236 

2,208,785 
1,877,922 

2,831,495 
2,282,234 

3,660,758 
2,773,593 

4,632,640 
3,370,741 

- 

157,774 

330,863 
34  311 

549,261 
41  698 

887,165 
50  676 

1,261,899 
61  591 

Florida,  .... 

• 

157,744 

396,552 

507,563 

836,489 
18,385 

1,200,308 
22,343 

Foreign  Population  in  the 
••  States, 
Do.  in  the  Free  States,   . 

;     ; 

157,744 
153,174 

296,552 
501,026 

507,563 
971,464 

818,104 
1,649.857 

1.177,965 
2,832,736 

Do.  in  the  United  States, 
Differences,     . 

- 

310,918 
12,757 

797,578 
26,910 

1,479,027 
43,416 

2,467,961 
60,550 

4.010,701 
76,028 

Amount,  at  the  Rate  of 
26-25,  &c.  per  cent.     . 

. 

298,661 

770.668 

1,435.611 

2,407,411 

3.934,673 

FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 


It  will  be  seen  by  this  table  that  the  foreign  immigration 
into  the  slave  states,  which  at  the  other  dates  was  much 
less,  was  greater  than  that  into  the  free  states,  during  the 
first  10  years.  This  has  arisen  probably  from  large  num- 
bers having  gone  from  the  free  states  to  the  slave  states. 
However  that  may  be,  the  white  population  of  Georgia, 
Tennesse  and  Kentucky  was  increased  nearly  150  per  cent. 
during  this  term. 

It  will  be  perceived  that,  according  to  this  table,  there 
are  differences  between  the  aggregate  of  the  estimated  for- 
eign population  in  the  two  divisions,  and  the  estimated 
amount  in  the  whole  country,  arising  from  the  different 
rates  of  increase  for  the  two  portions  of  the  population. 
In  consequence  of  the  different  mode  in  which  the  process 
is  conducted,  contrary  to  what  was  done  with  the  differen- 
ces on  page  20,  where  they  were  added,  they  are  here  to 
be  deducted  from  the  two  divisions,  according  to  the  respec- 
tive numbers  in  those  divisions  at  the  several  dates,  as  fol- 
lows : 


Free  States,       ... 
Proportion  of  the  Differences,  deduct 

Total  in  the  Free  States,  . 

Slave  States,      
Proportion  of  the  Differences,  deduct 

Total  in  the  Slave  States,  - 
Total  in  the  Free  States,   - 

Total  in  the  United  States, 

1800. 

1810. 

1820. 

1830. 

1840. 

153,174 
6,038 

501,026 
16,904 

971,464 
23,517 

1,649,857 
40,478 

2,832,736 
53,698 

147,136 

157,744 
6,219 

484,123 

296,552 
10,006 

942,947 

507,563 
14,899 

1,609,379 

818,104 
20,072 

2,779,038 

1,177,965 
22,330 

151,525 
147,136 

286,546 

484,122 

492,664 
942,947 

798,032 
1,609,379 

1,155,635 

2,779,038 

298,661 

770,668 

1,435,611 

2,407,411 

3,934,673 

According  to  this  last  table,  the  free  states  received  from 
foreign  immigration  during  the  50  years,  an  accession  of 
2,777,038  persons,  or  146-18,  &c.  per  cent,  of  1,901,046  out 
of  403-04  per  cent.;  the  slave  states  1,155,635,  or  90-88, 
&c.  per  cent,  of  1,271,488  out  of  264-34  per  cent.  ;  and  the 
United  States  3,934,673,  or  124-02,  &c.  per  cent,  of  3,172,- 
534  out  of  347-45  per  cent.,  the  whole  white  increase,  there 


NATURAL    INCREASE    OF    THE    WHITE    POPULATION.  29 

remaining  for  the  native  white  increase  in  them  respective- 
Iv.  -r.r.-Sfi,  173-46  and  223-43  percent,  during  the  period. 

This  26-25,  &c.  per  cent,  for  the  average  rate  of  natural 
increase  of  the  white  population  of  the  United  States  in  10 
years, — being  about  7  per  cent,  less  than  the  actual  rate,  as 
appears  in  the  censuses, — may  appear  to  some  to  be  too 
small ;  but  its  justness  is  rather  confirmed  by  considering 
the  actual  increase  of  the  population  of  England,  com- 
posed as  it  is  very  much  of  the  same  stock  as  a  large  ma- 
jority <>f  our  countrymen.  The  increase  of  the  population 
of  Kii'jlaml  for  the  four  decennial  periods  beginning  in 
1^»1.  \\-assuccessively  14 £,  17J,  16  and  Ity  per  cent.,  and 
tin  iv  is  reason  for  believing  the  number  to  have  been 
diminished  by  emigration*  at  least  1J  per  cent,  in  the  last 
decennial  period,  so  that  we  may  consider  16  per  cent,  in 
In  \vars  as  a  lair  rate  for  the  natural  increase  of  the  popu- 
lation in  England.  This  is  10  per  cent,  less  than  it  is  in  the 
•s.  There  are  causes  which  make  an  import- 
ant difference  between  the  two  countries,  as  the  very  limited 
extent  of  territory,  the  great  poverty  of  very  large  num- 
the  calls  for  the  army  and  navy,  and  to  unhealthy 
climates,  which  must  materially  check  the  increase  of  pop- 
ulation in  England.  If  the  people  of  the  United  States 
and  of  England  were  placed  in  the  same  circumstances,  or 
in  circumstances  equally  favorable  to  increase,  we  may 
presume  that  the  increase  would  be  substantially  the  same. 

If  26-25.  &c.  per  cent,  be  the  average  rate  of  the  natural 
increase  in  10  years  of  the  white  population,  we  do  not 
perceive  how  the  conclusion  is  to  be  avoided  that  the  nat- 
ural increase,  in  consequence  of  foreign  immigration,  from 
1?(.H)  to  1840,  was  nearly  four  millions,  and  to  the  present 
time  (1S1?)  nearly  five  millions.  There  is  doubtless  a 
very  small  variation  in  the  rate  of  increase  in  the  several 

*See  Enumeration  Abstract,  Part  I.,  p.  11,  London,  1843. 


30  FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 

decennial  periods ;  but  it  is  probably  too  small  to  be  of  any 
important  value,  arid  may  be  neglected.  The  greater  den- 
sity of  the  population  in  the  later  periods  is  likely  rather  to 
diminish  the  rate,  but  social  causes  we  may  presume  have 
counteracted  that  tendency,  and  may  perhaps  be  sufficient 
even  to  increase  the  rate,  so  that  we  may  without  material 
error  consider  the  rate  uniform  through  the  five  periods. 
The  greater  density  of  the  population  in  such  countries  as 
England  or  France,  compared  with  the  United  States, 
would  have  an  important  influence  on  the  increase  of  pop- 
ulation. 

The  whole  number  from  foreign  immigration  from  1790 
to  1840,  according  to  our  estimate,  has  been  3,934,673,  or 
124-02,  &c.  per  cent,  of  3,172,534,  the  whole  number  of 
the  whites  in  1790.  It  amounts  to  27*71  per  cent,  of  the 
whites  in  1840.  If  to  this  foreign  population  we  add  the 
increase  of  the  colored  population  in  the  50  years,  2,116,285, 
consisting  of  326,827  free  colored,  and  1,789,458  slaves, 
we  have  an  aggregate  of  6,050,958  of  increase  in  the  half 
century,  two  thirds  of  whom  are  an  increase  of  white  per- 
sons from  a  foreign  source,  and  who  may  be  considered  as 
most  determinately  opposed  to  slavery,  and  the  remaining 
third  are  either  born  slaves  or  born  to  a  degraded  condition 
through  life  among  the  whites,  and  whenever  they  come  to 
a  knowledge  of  their  degradation,  will  set  their  whole  force 
against  it,  and  be  sure  of  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the 
first  two  thirds. 

Assuming  the  above  rates  for  the  average  decennial 
increase  of  the  white  population  of  the  United  States,  and 
of  the  two  divisions  of  the  states,  we  may  easily  make  an 
approximation  to  the  number  of  persons  there  would  be  by 
natural  increase  in  any  portion  of  the  states,  for  one  or  more 
of  the  periods  since  1790,  and  estimate  the  probable  num- 
ber of  immigrants  into,  or  emigrants  from  the  states.  We 
here  propose  to  do  this  in  respct  to  the  six  New  England 


INCREASE  IN  NEW  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  YORK. 


31 


•s,  and  to  Massachusetts  and  New  York  separately. 
The  result  will  appear  in  the  next  table  : 

TABLE  V. — Exhibiting  the  Increase  of  the  Write  Population,  according  to  the 
Censuses,  and  by  Natural  Increase,  at  tht  rate  of  28-76,  $-c.  per  cent,  in  10 
years,  in  New  England^  in  Massachusetts  and  in  New  York. 


1790  
Increase  in  10  yean,    . 

1800  
lucream  in  10  yean,    . 

1*10  
Increase  in  10  years,    . 

1820,    .        . 
Increase  in  10  yean,    . 

1830  

NBW  ENGLAND. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

NBW  YORK. 

Census. 

Nal.  Incr. 

Census. 

Nat.  Incr. 

Census. 

Nat.  Incr. 

mjm 

821,407 

373,324 
43,069 

373,324 

107,400 

314,142 

241,897 

314,142 
90,374 

1,214,25* 
237,727 

416,393        480,724 

48,910 

666,030 
809,600 

404,516 
116,374 

1,451,9% 

L,«4Mae 

473,613 

465,303 
51,244 

619,022 

178,084 

918,699 
414,045 

520,890 
149,853 

1,688,643 

a.no.-w 
toym 

516.547 
86,812 

797,106 
229,316 

1,332.744 
540,919 

670,743 

1'.I2.%:J 

i  '.»:n  :n- 

*,7W  ;rtii 
785,314 

603,359 

1,026,422 

1,873,663 
505,227 

863,706 
248,477 

Increase  in  10  yean,   . 

. 
Amu  according  to  Cen. 

more  or  lew 
thrm  the  Censuses,    . 
IV  urcfnt.. 

mjm 

2,212,166 

3,515,074 

729,031 

1,321,709 
729,031 

2,378,890 
1,112,183 

1,112,183 

• 

+1,309.90* 
131-22 

• 

+592.678 
15*75 

-1,266.707 
403-22 

• 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  increase  in  Massachusetts  and  in 
England,  according  to  the  censuses,  has  been  very 
much  less  than  it  would  have  been  had  the  population 
remained  without  emigrating  to  other  places,  while  in  New 
York  the  case  has  been  far  different  during  the  50  years. 
The  natural  increase  of  the  whites  at  the  rate  of  28-76, 
&<-.  />cr  rent,  in  10  years,  has  amounted  to  254-038420,  &c. 

-  ///.  in  50  years,  and  would  give  to  New  England, 
in  1840,  3,515,074,  instead  of  which  the  census  shows 
only  2,212,166,  and  the  remainder,  1,302,908,  amounting 
to  131-22,  &c.  per  cent.,  consists  of  those  who  have  emi- 
grated, and  their  descendants.  In  Massachusetts,  the  nat- 
ural increase  would  have  given  to  it  a  white  population  of 
I.:ttl.7n9  in  1840,  instead  of  only  729,031,  according  to  the 

us  :  and  the  difference,  amounting  to  592,678,  or  158-75, 
&c.  per  cent.,  consist  of  emigrants  during  the  time  from  the 


32 


FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 


state,  and  of  their  descendants.  These  results  show  the 
remarkably  migratory  character  of  the  New  Englanders. 
On  the  other  hand,  New  York  had,  according  to  the  cen- 
sus, a  white  population  of  2,378,890  instead  of  1,112,183 
only,  which  the  natural  increase  would  have  given  it  in 
1840. 

The  following  table  will  show  the  number  of  white  per- 
sons there  would  have  been  in  each  of  the  New  England 
states  and  in  New  York  in  1840,  by  natural  increase 
alone  from  1790,  from  which  it  appears  that  the  actual 
increase  of  the  white  population  of  these  seven  states  ac- 
cording to  the  censuses,  was  less  by  36,201,  or  2'76  per 
cent,  than  the  amount  by  natural  increase  at  the  rate  of 
28-76,  &c.  per  cent.  : 

TABLE  VI. 


STATES. 

Census, 
1790. 

Increase  in  50  years. 

Census, 
1840. 

Natural 
Increase. 

Amount. 

Per  cent. 

96,002 
141,111 
373,324 
64,689 
232,581 
85,144 

404,436 
142,925 
355,707 
40,898 
69,275 
206,074 

421-27 
101-28 
95-28 
63-22 
29-78 
242-02 

500,438 
284,036 
729,031 
105,587 
301,856 
291,218 

339,884 
499,587 
1,321,709 
229,024 
823,427 
301,443 

New  Hampshire, 
Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island, 
Connecticut, 
Vermont,  . 

New  England, 
New  York, 

992,8511,219,315 
314,1422,064,748 

122'80 
657-26 

2,212,166 
2,378,890 

3,515,074 
1,112,183 

4,627,257 

1,306,993,3,284,063 

251-76 

4,591,056 

In  what  we  have  said  of  the  number  of  white  persons 
in  the  New  England  states  and  in  New  York,  according  to 
the  censuses  and  by  natural  increase,  we  have  left  out  of 
the  account  the  foreigners  who  have  come  into  these  seven 
states,  and  their  children,  whose  aggregate  must  have 
been,  according  to  the  preceding  calculations,  at  least  two 
millions  of  the  nearly  four  millions.  Many  of  these  for- 
eigners merely  passed  through  these  states,  and  those  that 
remained  only  increase  the  number  of  immigrants,  and  take 
the  place  of  the  native  population  or  of  those  with  their  nat- 


EMIGRATION  FROM  NEW  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  YORK.     33 

ural  increase  who  were  in  these  states  in  1790;  and  thus  we 
must  increase  the  number  of  these  last  who  have  emigra- 
ted to  other  states,  especially  from  New  England.  For 

iplc,  if  we  suppose  the  number  of  persons  arising  from 
foreign  immigration  into  Massachusetts  from  1790  to  1840,  to 
bear  the  same  proportion  to  the  whole  number  arising  from 
the  same  cause  in  the  United  States,  that  it  had  to  the  whole 
number  in  the  26  years  from  October  1,  1820  to  September 
30,  IS  16,  it  would  amount  to  224,528,  which  is  nearly  5-71 
(Tahle  VIII.)  of  3,934,673.  If  we  add  this 
amount  from  immi'jration  to  the  ."><)2,678,  (Table  V.)  we 
have  817,206  instead  of  -  for  the  number  of  the 

white  population  who  have  emigrated  from  Massachusetts 
fiom  nd  helped  to  increase  the  population 

here,  most  of  whom  have  probably  gone  to  New  York 
and  farther  west.     It  is  well  known  that  large  numbers  of 

neis  have  during  these  50  years  come  into  Massachu- 
and   the  other  New  Midland  states,  and  have  perma- 
nently remained  m  them  with  their  children. 

It  is  well  known  that  large  numbers  of  persons  have, 
from  year  to  year,  during  the  />n  years,  emigrated  from  the 
New  I  In -land  states  to  New  York  and  the  states  beyond. 
.Many  emigrated  from  Massachusetts  to  Vermont  and  to 
.Maine,  which  in  1.790  were  comparatively  a  wilderness. 
Maine  is  the  only  state  in  New  England  whose  population 
increased  more  than  at  the  rate  of  28-76,  &c.  per  cent,  in 
ID  years.  In  Connecticut,  with  a  small  territory,  the 
increase,  according  to  the  censuses,  has  been  the  least  of 
any  of  the  six  New  England  states,  and  of  course  there 
must  have  been,  as  is  well  known,  a  large  emigration  from 
it.  and  we  must  add  from  Rhode  Island  also.  In  Massachu- 
setts, some  of  the  towns  whose  boundary  lines  remained 
unchanged,  lost  population,  or  gained  very  few  during  the 
half  century.  In  this  state,  some  80  or  90  towns  lost 
population  from  1S20  to  1840,  and  even  from  1830  to 
5 


34  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

1840.*  In  New  Hampshire,  from  1830  to  1840,  a  few 
manufacturing  towns  gained  more  inhabitants  than  the 
aggregate  increase  in  all  the  towns;  of  course,  many  towns 
must  have  lost  population.  In  Vermont,  the  population, 
with  the  aid  of  Massachusetts  emigrants,  and  from  other 
sources,  increased  the  most  of  any  of  the  New  England 
states,  except  Maine,  and  nearly  retained  the  numbers  aris- 
ing from  the  above  rate  of  increase,  though  many  emigra- 
ted from  it  westward. 

In  fact  emigrants  have  gone  from  the  New  England 
states  not  merely  to  New  York,  but  to  every  state  in  the 
Union.  They  have  from  time  to  time  joined  with  many  from 
New  York,  to  people  the  new  countries  far  to  the  west  and 
to  the  south,  so  that  numbers  of  them  are  to  be  found  in 
very  many  of  the  large  towns  and  cities  of  the  states  that 
have  been  settled  and  organized  since  1790.  When  Ohio  was 
settled,  and  for  a  series  of  years  afterwards,  emigrants  in 
great  numbers  left  New  England  and  found  a  home  there, 
and  now,  with  their  descendants,  compose  a  large  portion 
of  that  flourishing  commonwealth,  modifying  its  civil  in- 
stitutions and  forming  the  character  of  its  inhabitants. 

As  the  emigrants  have  from  year  to  year  gone  from  the 
older  states,  and  especially  from  New  England  arid  New 
York,  they  have  carried  with  them  the  hardy  enterprise, 
the  industrious  habits,  the  intelligence  and  the  institutions 
to  be  found  in  those  parts  of  the  country  they  have  left, 
and  transplanted  them  in  the  new  states  which  they  have 
adopted  for  their  future  homes.  Their  numbers  have  been 
such  as  to  secure  a  controlling  influence  wherever  they 
have  gone.  This  current  of  emigration,  flowing  from 
almost  every  town  and  city,  has  continued  without  inter- 
ruption for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  conveyed  to  the 
west  whatever  improvements  may  have  been  discovered  or 

*See  "A  Statistical  Vieic  of  the  Population  of  Massachusetts  from  1765  to  1840,"  pp.  50,  51. 


FOREIGNERS    BY    BIRTH    IN    NKW    ENGLAND    AND    NKW    YORK.       35 

adopted  in  tlie  older  parts  of  the  country.  The  emigrants 
have  left  behind  them  relatives  and  friends,  who  remember 
them  for  years  with  a  kind  interest  :  and  thus  they 
i-,rthen  the  bonds  of  union  between  distant  parts  of  a 
common  country.  Their  places  are  occupied  to  some  ex- 
tent by  emigrants  from  foreign  countries.  By  the  enter- 
prise they  inspire,  by  the  character  they  form,  by  the  insti- 
tutions they  establish,  in  the  new  states,  besides  strengthen- 
in  Lr  the  bonds  of  the  national  union,  they  still  represent  the 
states  they  have  left,  and  tin-  An  do- American  race,  in  the 
<:ontrolliii£  intlnence  they  exert  in  the  atl'airs  of  the  nation. 

As  to  the  niinil  'ills  who  now  remain 

in  New  England  and  New  Vo/7'.  we  have  no  means  of 
determining  with  accuracy.  Hut  it  is  stated  in  the  census 
of  Huston  in  1M.V  that  :!7,289,  or  of  a  pop- 

ulation of  II  1. :;r,r>  m  that  year,  consisted  of  foreigners  by 
birth  and  their  children,  and  of  the  remainder,  about  one 
third  only  were  horn  in  Boston,  and  the.  other  third  emi- 
grated from  the  other  parts  of  the  United  States.  It  ap- 
pears also  that  nearly  the  same  proportion  of  foreigners, 
including  their  children,  belonged  to  Roxbury  in  the  same 
year.  Large  numbers  are  known  to  reside  in  Charlestown, 
Cambridge,  Lowell,  and  other  large  towns.  The  number 
in  Boston  at  the  present  time,  considering  the  amount  of 
immi'jiation  since  1845,  is  probably  very  near  r>n.i)ni);  and 
we  may  fairly  conclude  that  this  foreign  population  in  the 
commonwealth.  <l<x»s  not  fall  short  of  100,000,  or  about  an 
eighth  part  of  the  whole  white  population. 

In  New  York,  according  to  the  state  census  of  1845, 
taken  by  order  of  the  legislature,  the  number  of  those  bom 
in  foreign  countries  was  347,266  out  of  2,604,495,  or  more 
than  an  eighth  part  of  the  whole  population.  It  is  there 
stated  that  1:28,492  of  these  foreigners  lived  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  constituting  more  than  one  third  part  of  its 
371.223  inhabitants.  In  King's  county,  containing  Brook- 


36  FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 

lyn,  Williamsburg,  &c.,  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York,  the 
foreigners  by  birth  were  25,200  in  1845.  According  to 
that  census,  1,894,278  of  the  whole  population  were  born 
in  the  state  of  New  York,  228,881  in  the  New  England 
states,  and  83,642  in  other  states  of  the  Union.  It  appears 
also  from  that  census,  that,  owing  to  emigration,  the  in- 
crease has  of  late  years  been  very  small  in  many  of  the 
western  counties  of  that  state. 

There  is,  however,  but  a  small  portion  of  the  foreigners 
arriving  at  the  port  of  New  York,  who  have  settled  in  that 
state,  and  who,  together  with  their  children,  now  remain 
in  it.  Most  of  them,  especially  of  late  years,  as  they  arrive, 
pass  up  the  great  Erie  canal,  and  proceed  on  to  the  places 
of  their  destination  in  the  western  states. 

Of  the  whole  number  of  immigrants  mentioned  in  Table 
I.,  we  have  seen  that  65-00  per  cent,  entered  the  port  of 
New  York  alone.  An  equal  proportion  of  those  who  have 
come  to  the  United  States  since  1790,  would  be  nearly  two 
millions  of  immigrants  themselves,  of  whom  probably  not 
one  quarter  have  permanently  settled  in  that  state. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  emigration  from  the  New  Eng- 
land states  to  other  parts  of  the  country.  Besides  this,  it 
appears  from  the  census  of  Upper  Canada  in  1842,  that 
32,838,  (many  of  them  doubtless  colored  people,)  and  from 
that  of  Lower  Canada  in  1844,  11,943  were  natives  of  the 
United  States.  There  are  also  some  who  have  emigrated 
to  Mexico,  South  America,  the  West  Indies,  England, 
France,  &c.,  chiefly  for  a  temporary  residence,  and  yet 
have  been  absent  at  the  dates  of  the  censuses.  A  large 
number  of  persons  left  the  United  States  and  settled  in 
Texas,  particularly  during  the  10  years  before  1840.  After 
all,  the  whole  amount  of  these  emigrants  forms  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  whole  increase  of  the  white  population  of 
the  United  States  during  the  50  years. 

The  foreign  passengers  arriving  in  the  United  States  and 


IMMIGRANTS    FROM    THE    UNITED    KINGDOM.  37 

registered  at  the  custom-houses,  come  from  most  of  the 
countries  with  which  we  have  commercial  intercourse.  A 
larger  portion  come  from  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  than  from  any  other  country.  Many 
come  from  Germany.  Apparently  constituting  about  one 
fourth  part  of  the  whole  number  of  foreigners,  and  have 
be. -n  disposed  to  form  communities  by  themselves,  particu- 
larly in  Pennsylvania  and  in  some  of  the  western  states, 
where  thn  official  documents  have  been  authorized  to  be 
printed  in  the  German  language. 

The  next  table  contains  the  number,  according  to  the 
ollicial  returns,  of  those  born  in  the  I'nited  Kingdom,  by 
which  we  mean  Kirjland,  Scotland,  Ireland  and  AY 
Besides  these,  a  considerable  number  have  come  from  the 
British  possessions  in  North  America  and  in  the  West 
Indi 

As  the  number  of  passengers  born  in  the  I  nited  King- 
dom is  not  specified  in  the  printed  reports  for  New  York. 
nor  in  the  registry  of  the  custom-house  there,  for  the  3d 
and  4th  quarters  of  1829,  the  1st,  2d  and  3d  of  1830,  the 
3d  of  1831,  the  2d,  3d  and  4th  of  1832,  the  2d  and  4th  of 
1833,  and  the  2d  of  1834,  the  proportion  of  those  born  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  and  arriving  in  that  port  in  all  the 
other  quarters,  to  the  whole  number  of  foreigners  arriving 
there,  is  assumed  in  the  next  table  as  the  nearest  approx- 
imation we  can  make  to  the  true  number. 


38 


FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 


TABLE  VII. — Exhibiting  the  Number  of  Passengers  born  in  the  United  King- 
dom, who  arrived  in  the   United    States,  and  are  registered  at   the  Custom- 


YEARS. 

MAINE. 

N.  H 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

|£ 

|1 

1 

|| 
fa 

•£•5 
jl 

P 

M 

a 

_5 

c 

1 

J 

1 

S 
z 

I 

^ 
1 

£ 
1 

lj 

g"S  =' 

6 
Jd 

I 

"3 
1= 

% 
| 

« 

c 

a 

b 

.it 

la 

x 

1 
>-, 

E 

_ai 

1820-21 
1821-22 
1822-23 
1823-24 
1824-25 
1825-26 
1826-27 
1827-28 
1828-29 
1829-30 
1830-31 
1831-32 
1832-33 
1833-34 
1834-35 
1835-36 
1836-37 
1837-38 
1838-39 
1839-40 
1840-41 
1841-42 
1842-43 
1843-44 
1844-45 
1845-46 
1846  3d  q. 

Total  26  ys. 

23 
289 
57 
5 
24 

730 
577 
36 
1,201 
1,357 
690 
1,137 
932 
442 
1,599 
911 
1,113 
1,195 
3,297 
1,867 
1,682 
2,206 
3,648 
1,646 

26 
18 

5 
66 

68 
10 
8 
23 
21 

19 

39 
12 
2 

6 
6 
232 
936 

6 
12 

1 

0 

20 
2 

23 

27 

54 

1 
23 

17 

2 

8 

2 
1 

2 

202 
277 
321 
166 
290 
373 
750 
946 
832 
899 
777 
931 
1,115 
2,036 
1,472 
2,274 
1,876 
1,269 
1  0°5 

25 

6 

6 

- 

6 
17 

3 

18 
4 

50 
148 
22 
7 
18 
10 

- 

4 

18 
6 

1 

5 

26 
2 

26 
1 
5 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

. 

- 

37 

8 
46 
194 
251 

1 

1.547 
3,564 
4,803 
3,137 
2,374 
5,146 
7,512 
2,745 

- 

- 

- 

3 

- 

- 

4 

- 

- 

- 

; 

_ 

• 

- 

3 

6 

Hi 

26.664 

115     1,400    1 

33 

50 

54   593 

48,659 

25 

14 

1 

59 

225 

RECAPITULATION. 


1820-25 

369!  44 

130 

1 

38 

50 

. 

41 

1,256 

25 

12 

. 

23 

25 

227 

1825-30 

1,336  71 

70 

_ 

_ 

. 

. 

10 

3,800 

_ 

4 

1 

5 

_ 

28 

1830-35 

4,421  - 

14 

. 

„ 

_ 

54 

3 

6,331 

_ 

24 

. 

26 

32 

_ 

1835-40 

4,997j  - 

1,174 

_ 

. 

. 

_ 

39 

7,991 

. 

. 

_ 

2 

. 

_ 

1840-45 

10,247!  - 

12 

. 

. 

_ 

_ 

499 

19,024 

. 

4 

_ 

3 

3 

_ 

1845-46 

5,294 

. 

. 

_ 

_ 

. 

. 

1 

10,257 

_ 

. 

_ 

. 

6 

_ 

25  3-4  yrs., 
3  3-4  yrs., 

26,664 
312 

115 
44 

1,400 
109 

1 

33 
33 

50 
50 

54 

593 
25 

48,659  25 
1,04625 

44 
12 

1 

59 
23 

60 
25 

255 
224 

22  year*, 

I 

1824-46 

26,352 

71 

1,291 

1 

- 

.54 

568 

47,613 

- 

32 

1 

36 

11 

31 

1820-30 
1830-40 

1,705 
9,418 

115 

200 

1,188 

1 

33 

r>(j 

.54 

51 
42 

5,056 
14,322 

25 

1(5 
21 

1 

28 
28 

25 
« 

255 

1820-40 

11,123 

115 

1,388 

1 

33 

5054 

93 

19,378 

25 

40 

1 

56 

57 

255 

1835-45 

15,244 

_ 

1,186 

. 

. 

538 

27,015 

. 

4 

5 

3 

Oct.  1, 

i 

1836-46 

19,293 

- 

18 

- 

- 

I 

537 

34,348 

- 

4 

- 

3 

9 

- 

IMMIGRANTS    FROM    THE    UNITED    KINGDOM. 


39 


Hou$es,  for  each  year  beginning  July  1,  and  ending  June  30,  for  26  years  from 
Oct.  1,  1820  to  Sept.  30,  184*').  ilistinrriiifhing  the  Free  from  the  Slave  States. 


.MASSACHUSETTS. 

R.  ISLAND. 

CONN  EC. 

M:\V  YORK. 

N.  JERS'Y. 

1 

| 

i 

B 

•vid'nce. 

I 

; 

g 

i 

1 

i: 

It 

1 

2 

z, 

i 

5 

2 

£ 

i 
x 

^ 

£ 

X. 

t 

1 

7)  ^ 

^~ 

z 

_ 

_ 

. 

2 

. 

. 

. 

16 

. 

. 

'.ili7 

. 

m 

-,«,  . 

- 

. 

. 

- 

1 

. 

11 

1 

. 

97 

1,532 

6 

172 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

18 

i 

. 

. 

17 

. 

. 

1,617 

- 

. 

. 

. 

. 

, 

. 

. 

1 

4 

3 

. 

. 

. 

. 

23 

. 

. 

, 

. 

. 

. 

2 

3 

- 

. 

3- 

2 

. 

3,170 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

70 

. 

. 

. 

2 

3 

1 

U 

- 

. 

1.211 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

_ 

. 

5 

1 

3 

17 

9 

. 

. 

. 

. 

10  ••  i  i 

_ 

_ 

| 

7 

m 

1 

, 

1 

2 

. 

i  ~  .  •  1  1 

11,4 

. 

| 

105  - 

_ 

m 

m 

m 

m 

. 

m 

_ 

. 

. 

10,130 

. 

. 

. 

. 

2 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

- 

71    - 

. 

1 

. 

3 

. 

. 

. 

12 

. 

. 

203 

. 

. 

. 

. 

9 

. 

. 

14 

. 

. 

, 

15 

. 

ill 

. 

. 

I', 

- 

12 

. 

8 

95 

4 

. 

. 

- 

19,1 

. 

. 

- 

- 

31 

•_ 

. 

19 

1 

. 

l 

. 

11 

3  - 

23. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

_ 

15 

. 

71 

1 

13 

_ 

34,686 

. 

. 

494 

1 

_ 

. 

20 

83 

. 

11 

. 

. 

2,832 

. 

. 

. 

m 

. 

. 

15 

, 

. 

. 

1   - 

17,235 

. 

. 

1,688 

- 

19 

6 

. 

. 

7 

1 

. 

1 

. 

. 

22.". 

. 

- 

- 

- 

11 

4 

_ 

. 

. 

2 

. 

8 

. 

. 

31,577 

. 

. 

- 

. 

1 

. 

. 

_ 

8 

l 

. 

3 

3  - 

35,086 

- 

. 

- 

. 

4 

10 

l 

. 

. 

3 

. 

- 

7 

1    - 

55,854 

- 

- 

- 

20 

. 

. 

m 

, 

15 

2 

. 

. 

. 

33.  i 

. 

. 

- 

. 

. 

3 

. 

. 

. 

21 

1 

3 

I 

. 

. 

34.' 

- 

- 

. 

- 

. 

1 

. 

. 

. 

17 

. 

- 

10 

- 

-  , 

45.' 

- 

- 

- 

- 

i 

. 

. 

18 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

53,541 

. 

. 

. 

- 

in 

16  958 

m 

_ 

1U 

158 

10 

149 

221 

125 

» 

7 

4197 

553,758 

6 

195    5,827    1 

RECAPITULATION. 


_ 

. 

24 

8  125 

1 

82 

2 

'7 

9,021 

6 

195 

59 

. 

70 

. 

7 

5 

4 

3 

36 

7 

. 

42,297 

- 

- 

105 

43 

12 

. 

119 

1 

1 

. 

79 

3 

- 

88,299 

- 

- 

649 

33 

41 

5 

'.'1 

1 

120  33  - 

54 

22 

. 

138,900 

- 

- 

5,014 

25 

20 

1 

. 

1 

3 

36 

7 

. 

204,742 

. 

- 

. 

0  4 

i  ^ 

j 

21 

70,1'J'J 

m 

_  1 

13 

158 

149 

—  i 

221 

69  7 

287 

11 

553^758 

6  195 

5,827 

- 

- 

.   22 

17 

l 

79 

2 

6,349 

6 

195 

59 

125 

L38 

10  128  127 

215 

52 

6208 

39 

- 

047,409 

- 

- 

5,768 

70 

7 

12 

•;i 

4118 

9 

•7 

51,318 

6 

195 

164 

53 

L20 

L24 

34 

. 

133 

25 

. 

227,199 

. 

. 

5,663 

123 

5  ]:> 

11'.' 

136 

65 

4 

251 

34 

J7 

278,517 

6 

195 

5,827 

58 

61 

1 

181 

37 

3 

90 

29 

- 

343,012 

- 

- 

5,014 

82 

58 

10 

- 

180 

24 

3 

58 

9 

- 

367,901 

- 

- 

4,520 

40 


FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 
TABLE  VII.— Continued. 


PENN. 

FREE 
STATES. 

DEL. 

MARYL'D 

VIRGINIA. 

YEARS. 

75   - 

bfl 

| 

*$ 

1 

1 

§ 

£ 

tJ 

1 

I1 

1 

If 

1(2 

1 

1 

1 

1820-21 

415 

1,727 

_ 

374 

26 

. 

. 

. 

1821-22 

540 

2,815 

- 

311 

41 

20 

1 

29 

1822-23 

429 

2,654 

. 

343 

11 

2 

1 

1823-24 

252 

2,615 

. 

157 

53 

12 

. 

. 

1824-25 

561 

4,142 

- 

609 

61 

- 

- 

- 

1825-26 

1,409 

6,151 

. 

954 

68 

- 

- 

- 

1826-27 

1,626 

6,633 

. 

951 

2 

- 

. 

. 

1827-28 

2,961 

16,248 

. 

828 

11 

- 

- 

. 

1828-29 

1,809 

15,018 

. 

805 

38 

- 

- 

- 

1829-30 

467 

12,087 

- 

1,250 

480 

- 

- 

- 

1830-31 

1,321 

10,510 

. 

1,768 

30 

10 

- 

. 

1831-32 

2,752 

21,686 

- 

855 

160 

55 

- 

- 

1832-33 

2,317 

26,192 

. 

482 

80 

_ 

- 

- 

1833-34 

4,379 

26,286 

439 

712 

81 

- 

- 

- 

1834-35 

1,747 

27.783 

. 

152 

43 

- 

- 

- 

1835-36 

1,441 

40,209 

. 

238 

113 

. 

- 

- 

1836-37 

2,116 

41,018 

. 

358 

106 

- 

- 

- 

1837-38 

3,014 

24,821 

203 

121 

21 

. 

. 

- 

1838-39 

1,289 

26,012 

188 

301 

9 

- 

. 

- 

1839-40 

3,908 

38,229 

471 

460 

89 

- 

- 

- 

1840-41 

2,322 

42,200 

787 

333 

. 

- 

- 

- 

1841-42 

2.694 

66,735 

1,404 

597 

. 

. 

- 

- 

1842-43 

1,707 

40,424 

286 

253 

1 

- 

- 

- 

1843-44 

3,103 

42,099 

5 

973 

4 

. 

- 

- 

1844-45 

4,543 

57,605 

1 

266 

. 

. 

- 

- 

1845-46 

4,856 

69,615 

. 

200 

13 

_ 

. 

- 

1846  3d  q 

2,425 

23,787 

- 

342 

6 

- 

- 

- 

Total  26  ys. 

56,403 

695,301 

3,784 

14,993 

1,547 

99 

2     29 

RECAPITULATION. 


1820-25 

1825-30 

1830-35 

1835-40 

1840-45 

1845-46 

25  3-4  yrs., 

3  3-4  yrs., 

22  years, 

1824-46 

1820-30 
1830-40 
1820-40 

1835-45 
Oct.  1. 
1836-46 


97 

13,953 

_ 

1,794 

192 

34 

2 

29 

72 

56,137 

. 

4,788 

599 

- 

- 

- 

16 

112,457 

439 

3,969 

394 

65 

. 

- 

68 

170,289 

862 

1,478 

338 

- 

- 

- 

69 

249,063 

2,483 

2,422 

5 

- 

- 

- 

81 

93,402 

. 

542 

19 

. 

- 

- 

03 

695,301 

3,784 

14,993 

1,547 

99 

2 

29 

99 

10,760 

- 

1,347 

144 

34 

2 

29 

04 

684,541 

3,784 

13,646 

1,403 

65 

- 

- 

69 

70,090 

_ 

6,582 

791 

34 

2 

29 

84 

282,746 

1,301 

5,447 

732 

65 

- 

- 

'53 

352,836 

1,301 

12,029 

1,523 

99 

2 

29 

37 

419,352 

3,345 

3,900 

343 

- 

- 

- 

J09 

457,866 

3,345 

4,061 

249 

- 

- 

- 

IMMIGRANTS    FROM    THE    UNITED   KINGDOM. 


41 


TABLE  VII— Continued. 


N.  CARO. 

S.  C. 

GA. 

LOUI'A 

ALA 

FLOR. 

D.  C. 

SLAVE 
STATES. 

UNITED 
STATES. 

1        I 

j 

J 

| 

4 

1 

J 

J 

•< 

4 

1        I 

1 

1 

IB 

I 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

_ 

428 

88 

M 

. 

66 

_ 

1,967 

2,794 

. 

. 

211 

56 

. 

29 

12 

759 

3,574 

. 

. 

183 

11 

182 

. 

15 

748 

3,402 

2 

. 

13 

. 

39 

. 

4M 

3,021 

. 

. 

230 

20 

. 

21 

. 

94? 

5,089 

. 

. 

. 

82 

. 

10 

. 

1,216 

1 

. 

121 

8 

154 

. 

8 

. 

1,248 

7,881 

2 

m 

. 

117 

. 

86 

. 

1,199 

17,447 

1 

. 

IS] 

. 

117 

, 

29 

. 

1,111 

. 

. 

Dl 

• 

. 

536 

. 

2,526 

14,613 

. 

. 

103 

. 

. 

65 

_ 

2,204 

. 

. 

. 

. 

10 

66 

. 

1,515 

23,201 

. 

. 

. 

130 

33 

. 

761 

26,953 

. 

. 

1  12 

. 

, 

66 

. 

1,837 

. 

B 

. 

192 

. 

_ 

Mi 

28,227 

. 

. 

253 

. 

11 

„ 

851 

41,060 

. 

. 

100 

. 

703 

21 

10 

. 

1,298 

42,316 

. 

. 

_ 

750 

. 

22 

3 

f 

. 

. 

. 

652 

. 

6 

6 

. 

1,378 

27,390 

. 

. 

B 

1,099 

, 

. 

6 

. 

2,^)1 

40,530 

. 

» 

. 

1,549 

14 

143 

. 

2,897 

45,097 

. 

. 

68 

, 

2,985 

. 

. 

75 

. 

5,129 

72,864 

. 

. 

3 

. 

2.731 

1 

9 

. 

3,284 

43,708 

. 

, 

37 

. 

1,402 

-       58 

8 

. 

2,437 

44,586 

. 

. 

11 

t 

1,596 

20 

1 

. 

1,925 

59,530 

• 

. 

. 

3,377 

. 

16 

1 

. 

3,663 

73,278 

- 

- 

- 

• 

110 

• 

- 

15 

- 

473 

24,260 

7 

2      3,051 

175 

19,666!  10      158 

1,382 

12 

44,917 

740,218 

RECAPITULATION 


3 

1,080 

167 

444 

B 

170 

12    3,927 

17,880 

4 

. 

563 

8 

669 

. 

. 

669 

7,300 

63,437 

. 

283 

1,346 

10 

. 

255 

. 

6,761 

119,218 

_ 

849 

. 

3,457 

m 

49 

36 

, 

7,071 

177,360 

_ 

_ 

10,263 

. 

93 

236 

. 

15,722 

264,785 

m 

_ 

_ 

3,487 

. 

16 

16 

. 

4,136 

97,538 

7 

L1 

3,051 

175 

uu-,r,h 

10 

158 

1,382 

12 

44,917 

740,218 

3 

858 

161 

430 

- 

153 

12 

3,173 

13,933 

4 

2 

2,193 

14 

19,236 

10 

158 

1,229 

- 

41,744 

726,285 

7 

m 

1,643 

175 

1,113 

m 

_ 

839 

12 

11,227 

81,317 

. 

2 

1,132 

4,803 

10 

49 

291 

. 

13,832 

296,578 

7 

2 

2,775 

175 

5,916 

10 

49 

1,130 

12 

25,059 

377,895 

- 

2 

1,069 

- 

13,720 

- 

142 

272 

- 

22,793 

442,145 

- 

- 

874 

- 

16,951 

- 

158 

271 

- 

25,909 

483,775 

42  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

According  to  this  table,  740,218  persons,  born  in  the 
United  Kingdom,  were  registered  at  the  custom-houses  of 
the  United  States  in  the  26  years  from  Oct.  1,  1820  to 
Sept.  30,  1846,  constituting  54-65  per  cent,  of  all  the  for- 
eign passengers.  The  number  of  British  passengers  would 
have  been  increased  by  including  in  it  those  who  were  born 
in  the  British  possessions. 

The  foreign  immigration,  it  is  obvious,  is  derived  mainly 
from  the  British  empire;  and  this  is  not  surprising,  for  this 
country  was  mostly  populated  by  persons  of  the  same  stock 
in  the  early  periods  of  its  history.  A  community  of  lan- 
guage and  a  general  similarity  of  manners,  diminish  in 
a  great  degree  the  inconveniences  and  sufferings  to  which 
the  people  of  other  countries  would  be  exposed  by  emi- 
grating to  the  United  States. 

Besides  the  British  subjects  who  have  emigrated  to  the 
United  States,  a  large  portion  of  the  foreign  immigrants, 
apparently  about  one  quarter  of  the  whole  number,  dur- 
ing the  26  years,  have  come  from  Germany,  and  have 
very  much  continued  the  use  of  their  native  language,  and 
adhered  to  their  former  customs,  without  mingling  much 
with  the  people  of  this  country. 

It  was  observed  (p.  5)  that,  of  the  whole  number  of  for- 
eign passengers  registered  at  the  custom-houses,  more  than 
four  fifths  arrived  in  the  free  states,  and  less  than  one  fifth 
in  the  slave  states.  It  will  be  seen  by  inspecting  Tables 
VII.  and  VIII.,  that  the  proportion  of  the  immigrants  from 
the  United  Kingdom  is  four  times  greater ;  in  other  words, 
of  the  whole  number  740,218,  695,301  or  93-93  per  cent. 
arrived  in  the  free  states,  and  only  44,917  or  6-07  per  cent. 
in  the  slave  states  ;  that  is,  the  proportion  is  over  fifteen  in 
the  free  ito  one  in  the  slave  states.  We  may  suppose  as  a 
general  rule,  that  the  immigrants  in  the  main  do  finally 
locate  themselves  in  those  divisions  of  the  states  in  which 
they  first  land,  and  there  spend  their  days. 


PROPORTION    OF    FOREIGN    PASSENGERS    IN    THE    STATES. 


TABLE  Vm.—Exkti&ing  the  Wtole  Number  of  Foreign  Passengers,  and  the 
i>>er  from  the  United  Kingdom,  arriving  in  the  United  States,  and  registered 
at  the  Custom-Homes  in  each  State,  for  26  years  from  Oct.  1,  18120  to  Sept.  30, 
1846,  together  irith  the  Proportion  in  each  State  of  the  estimated  nhole  Foreign 
Population,  3,934,673,  from  1790  to  1840,  according  to  the  registered  Arri- 
vals, distinguishing  the  Free  from  the  Slave  States. 

1. — FREE  STATES. 


STATES. 

fetal  ftmUfo  P.I.S. 

seagerd. 

Diffbren- 

Mfc 

Passengers  from  the 
United  Kingdom. 

Proportion. 

Amount. 

Per  ct. 

Amount. 

Per  ct. 

- 
New  Hampshire, 

Massachusetts,  - 
Kindle  Nlaiul,      - 
Coinu-cticut, 

New  England  Stales, 

- 
ua,    - 

Free  States, 

46,187 

77,282 

3-41 
•05 
5-71 

•10 

17,870 
121 
27,603 

957 

28,317 
49,679 
425 

::  82 
•08 

0-71 

•nl 

134,188 
2,074 

4,015 

367,719 

2,559,382 
18,446 
208,098 

880,933 
71,627 

9     i 

327,174 

553,759 

5,828 

LO-71 

390,176    695,301 

93-93(3,153,645 

2.— SLAVE  STATES. 


- 

3,890 

106 

3,784 

•51 

11,302 

.Maryland, 

105,799 

7-81 

90,806 

2-03 

307,379 

nil,    - 

3,726 

2,049 

•23 

10,825 

North  Carolina, 

59 

•00 

50 

171 

South  Carolina, 

6,935 

•51 

3,884 

3,051 

•411]     20,148 

i.     - 

•02 

53 

175 

LoiiiMuna, 

14  !.'.»>     10-70 

421,090 

:ia.  - 

•02 

206 

10 

. 

628 

Florida,      - 

633 

158 

•02 

2,298 

.  '      - 

•03 

354 

. 

. 

1,028 

District  of  Columbia,  - 

1,892        •  1  1 

498 

1,394 

•19 

5,497 

Slave  States, 

268, 

223,911 

44,917 

6-07 

781,028 

Free  States, 

1,085,477    80-15 

390,176 

695,301 

93-93 

3,153,645 

United  States,    - 

1,354,305  100-00 

614,087 

740,218 

100-00 

3,934,673 

This  table  is  designed  to  exhibit  a  summary  view  of  the 
amount  of  population  added  to  the  United  States  in  conse- 
quence of  foreign  immigration,  from  1700  to  1840,  so  far  as 
the  custom-house  records  show  it,  and  the  proportion  there 


44  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

would  have  been  of  this  population  in  each  of  the  states. 
It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  proportion  approximates 
very  nearly  to  the  truth  in  respect  to  the  number  that  enter 
and  pass  through  such  states  as  New  York,  Massachusetts 
and  Maine. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  addition  of  foreign  population  in 
50  years  exceeds  by  762,149  the  whole  white  population  of 
the  United  States,  and  by  4,776  the  whole  population,  in- 
cluding 697,897  slaves,  seven  years  after  the  peace  of  1783. 
Of  this  foreign  population  added  to  the  United  States  in  50 
years  from  1790,  2,586,404,  or  65-70  per  cent.,  are  estimated 
to  be  immigrants,  and  1,348,269  the  descendants  of  those 
who  had  come  into  the  country  in  50  years,  and  were  enu- 
merated in  the  last  five  censuses. 

If  to  the  740,218  British  immigrants  from  the  United 
Kingdom,  we  add  50  per  cent.,  or  370,109,  on  account  of 
those  who  come  elsewhere  than  through  the  custom-houses, 
(and  there  is  strong  reason  for  making  this  addition,  con- 
sidering that  most  of  those  who  come  into  the  states  by 
other  ways  than  by  being  registered  at  the  custom-houses 
are  likely  to  be  British  subjects,)  we  have  1,110,327  as 
coming  from  the  United  Kingdom,  and  this  number  is  cer- 
tainly not  too  large  if  we  include  those  from  the  British 
colonies  and  dependencies.  This  number  is  nearly  one 
half  of  2,586,404,  the  estimated  whole  number  of  foreign  im- 
migrants. But  this  number  includes  the  British  immigrants 
from  1820  to  1846.  The  number  registered  at  the  custom- 
houses from  1820  to  1840  was  377,895,  to  which  if  we  add 
50  per  cent.,  we  have  566,842  for  20  years,  or  two  fifths  of 
the  50  years.  At  the  same  rate  for  the  whole  period  the 
number  would  be  1,417,106,  or  more  than  half  of  2,586,404. 

The  whole  number  of  foreign  immigrants  registered  at 
the  custom-houses,  during  the  21  years  from  July  1,  1825 
to  June  30,  1846,  as  deduced  from  Table  I.  is  1,263,508,  of 
whom  698,098  are  specified  in  Table  VII.  as  born  in  the 


IMMIGRATION   FROM    CANADA.  45 

United  Kingdom.  This  last  number  exceeds  by  69.927  only 
the  628,171  registered  in  the  United  Kingdom  from  1825  to 
lv  r>  inclusive,  and  whose  destination  on  leaving  the  king- 
dom was  declared  to  be  for  the  United  States.  This  very 
near  agreement  of  the  two  registries  made  for  different 
purposes,  and  3000  miles  apart,  confirms  the  general  cor- 
rectness of  both.  According  to  the  British  registry,*  the 
whole  number  of  emigrants  who  left  the  kingdom  in  these 
21  years  was  1,359,476,  of  whom  583,189  were  destined 
for  tin;  North  American  colonies,  628,171  for  the  United 
Stat«-  .'.">  for  the  Australian  colonies  and  New  Zea- 

land, and  l»>.]:jl  for  all  other  places. 

It   should  1  that    returns  from  collectors 

have  litvn  reei-ivrd  in>m  the  Atlantic  cities  only,  with 
•ely  an  exception ;  none  have  been  nrcived  from  Ver- 
mont nor  from  the  northern  and  western  parts  of  New 
York,  and  farther  west,  a  portion  of  the  country  bordering 
on  the  Canada  line  more  than  a  thousand  miles,  and  over 
which  line  the  emigrants  are  continually  passing  and  re- 

IILr. 

The  numhcr  registered  at  the  custom-houses  of  the  Uni- 
>iates.  during  the  10  years  from  July  1,  1830  to  June 
30,  1^1»».  as  horn  in  the  United  Kingdom,  was  296,578, 
and  the  number  registered  in  (ireat  Britain  on  leaving  the 
kingdom  from  ls:U  to  IS  10  inclusive,  whose  destination 
for  the  I'nited  States,  was  308,247,  or  11,669  more. 
This  near  agreement,  as  before,  is  remarkable,  and  con- 
firms the  general  correctness  of  both  registers. 

According  to  the  census  of  Upper  Canada,  its  population 
in  is  12  was  .".( if,, i i.V). f  of  whom  40,684  were  born  in  En- 
gland. 7-vJ.V)  in  Ireland,  39,781  in  Scotland,  making  a 
total  of  158,720  born  in  the  United  Kingdom,  247,665  in 


*See  McCuIloch's  Descriptive  and  Statistical  Account  of  the  British  Empire,  Vol.  II.,  p.  536. 
London,  1847. 
tSee  Hunt's  Merchants'  Magazine,  Vol.  IX.,  p.  186. 


46  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

Canada  of  British  origin,  13,969  in  Canada  of  French  ori- 
gin, 6,681  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  32,838  in  the 
United  States.  The  whole  number  whose  birth-place  is 
specified  is  459,873,  besides  46,182  not  specified.  There 
are  also  mentioned  7,596  foreigners  not  naturalized.  The 
population  in  1831  was  296,544,  and  the  increase  in  11 
years  209,509,  or  70*65  per  cent.,  which  averages  per  an- 
num nearly  twice  the  average  increase  in  the  United  States, 
and  shows  a  considerable  amount  of  immigration  into  that 
country. 

According  to  the  census,  the  population  of  Lower  Cana- 
da in  1844  was  693,649 ;  of  whom  there  were  natives  of 
French  origin  518,565,  of  British  origin  85,075,  of  En- 
gland 11,886,  of  Ireland  44,002,  of  Scotland  13,341,  of 
continental  Europe  2,353,  and  of  the  United  States  11,943, 
making  687,165,  and  leaving  6,484  whose  nativity  is  not 
specified.*  The  population  in  1831  was  501,438,  and  the 
increase  in  13  years  192,211,  or  3S-33per  cent.  The  annual 
average  was  less  than  half  of  that  in  the  upper  province. 

The  population  of  Upper  Canada  are  most  of  British 
origin,  while  those  of  Lower  Canada  are  mostly  of  French 
origin.  This  is  probably  the  principal  reason  why  most  of 
the  British  emigrants  go  to  the  upper  province.  Most  of  the 
people  of  Upper  Canada  are  Protestants,  there  being  in 
1842  only  65,202  Catholics,  or  an  eighth  part,  while  in 
Lower  Canada  the  number  of  Catholics  was  571,714,  or 
more  than  four  fifths  of  the  whole  population. 

"  When  in  1763  the  country  was  ceded  to  Great  Britain, 
the  whole  of  it,  then  constituting  the  province  of  Quebec, 
contained  only  a  population  of  about  70,000,  all  of  whom, 
with  a  very  few  exceptions  merely,  were  the  decendants  of 
Frenchmen. "f  During  our  Revolutionary  struggle  many 


*See  American  Almanac  for  1846,  p.  303. 

tSee  Encyclopaedia  Americana,  Vol.  XIV.,  p.  148. 


IMMIGRATION    FROM    CANADA.  47 

left  the  states  and  fled-  to  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick, 
Canada,  &c.  and  never  returned,  and  their  descendants 
now  constitute  a  la  mo  number  of  their  inhabitants.*  In 
K'.il.  the  country,  upon  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Pitt, 
was  divided  into  the  provinces  of  Upper  and  Lower  ( 'an- 
ada.  In  181)0,  their  united  population  was  only  270,718.f 
The  two  provinces  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  were  uni- 
ted under  one  legislature,  by  an  act  of  the  British  Parlia- 
ment in  IMn.  At  the  present  tin,.'  (IM7)  the  airinv-ale 
population  nf  these  t\vo  provinces  cannot  be  less  than  thir- 
or  fourteen  hundred  thousand,  indicating  an  increase 
of  some  .~>nn  JUT  <•<  nt.  in  11  y« 

The   Britisl.  det  to  retain  pos- 

>!i  «if  ( ',;  10  induce  niiii.sh  8u1 

then-  have  granted  many  privileges  to  the  inhabitants.      In 
the  census  of    i  in   1^  1  1.  it  tfl  bat   there 

1^1.111  tjuainifd  roten  at   Elections  for  members  of 

Parliament.    This-  -  >n  of  the  ri'jht  of  suU'raiie  amounts 

'i'  the  population,  and    is  nearly  inn-  and  a. 
in  /'/  jH'uhnlily  i.t  anir*n<r  flic  ir/m/c  />oj>- 
<>f  /lir  United  States,     It  is  about  the  same  as  it  is 
the  white  population  of  the  slave  states,  and  about 
*^.l  jtt-r  cent.  /(••<•>•  than  it   is  amoiiL^  the  white  population  of 
the  free  states. J     Of  the  whole  number  of  electors,  76,032 
of  families  and  proprietors  of  real  estate. 

-pulation  of  Upper  Canada,  in  1831,  was        -  -   2'. 

natural  increase  to  have  been  26  1-4  per  cent,  in  10 
years,  ami  -  l-l  percent,  in  1  year,  which  is  very  near  the  aver- 
"f  the  white  population  in  the  United  States,  its  amount 
\v..uldbein  10  years,     -  -     77,843 

Population  in  1841,    -  -    374,387 

Increase  of  the  rate  of  2  1-4  per  cent,  in  1  year,  -  -       8,424 

Population  with  the  natural  increase  in  1842,  -   382,811 

*See  Ratine's  American  Loyalists,  p.  67,  Ac. 

t  See  Hunt'*  Merchants'  Magazine,  Vol.  X./p.  15. 

'  t's  United  Slates  Commercial  and  Statistical  Register,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  2^,. 


48  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

Immigration  in  11  years, 

Census  of  1842,         -  -    506,055 

After  deducting  from  123,244  one  tenth,  or  12,324,  the  increase  from 
immigration  in  10  years  to  1841,  would  be  110,920. 

The  population  of  Lower  Canada,  in  1831,  was        -  -   501,428 

Increase  at  the  rate  of  26  1-4  per  cent,  in  10  years,   -  -    131,625 


Population  in  1841,    - 

Increase  of  633,053  at  the  rate  of  6  3-4  per  cent,  in  3  years,  -     42,831 

Population  with  the  natural  increase  in  1844, 

Immigration  in  13  years,       -  -  -     17,765 

Census  of  1844,          -  -    693,649 

After  deducting  from  17,765  three  tenths,  or  5,330,  we 
have  for  the  increase  from  immigration  in  10  years  to 
1841,  12,435,  to  which  we  add  110,920,  and  have  123,355 
as  an  approximation  to  the  number  in  the  two  Canadas 
arising  from  immigration  in  the  10  years  from  1831  to  1840 
inclusive.  Now,  during  these  10  years  there  were  regis- 
tered in  Great  Britain,  and  destined  for  the  British  colonies 
in  North  America,  322,485,  of  whom  only  123,355  seem  to 
have  remained  in  the  two  Canadas,  and  most  of  the  re- 
mainder (199,130)  may  be  presumed  to  have  settled  in  the 
United  States.  These  199,130,  added  to  the  579,370  who 
were  registered  at  our  custom-houses  from  1830  to  1840, 
we  have  778,500,  a  number  less  than  891,968  (p.  26)  by 
113,468  only.  But  if  we  take  the  10  years  from  1831  to 
1841,  we  have  registered  at  our  custom-houses  639,800,  to 
which  by  adding  199,130,  we  have  838,930,  which  is  less 
than  891,968  by  53,038  only.  During  the  10  years  from 
1831  to  1840  inclusive,  there  arrived  at  Quebec  and  Mon- 
treal 249,776  emigrants,*  or  126,421  more  than  seems  to 
have  been  the  increase  of  the  two  provinces  from  immigra- 
tion during  the  time.  Moreover,  we  have  supposed  the 

*  See  Tables  of  the  Revenue,  Population,  Commerc*,  &c.  of  the  United  Kingdom  and  its 
Dependencies,  Part  XII.  p.  255.  1842.  London,  1844. 


IMMIGRATION    FROM    CANADA.  49 

natural  increase  2£  per  cent,  per  annum,  while  Lord  Dur- 

ham* supposes  that  of  Upper  Canada  to  be  "at  least  3  per 

and  says5t  "  no  population  has  increased  by  mere 

births  so  rapidly  as  that  of  the   French   Canadians    lias 

since  the  conquest."     The  difference  of  one  quarter  />cr 

IHT  annum  in  tin*  natural  increase  of  the  population, 

would  in  10  years  add  at  least  59,84!)  to  the  amount  in 

1841, 

The  census  of  Upper  Canada,  in  1^  \'L  sho\vs  1:">S.720  to 
have  been  born  in  the  United  Kingdom,  and  that  of  Lmvor 
and  the  total,  including  !UM  1  horn  on  the 
continent  of  Km-  It  is  lair  to  suppose  that 

not  more  than  half,  or  118,  1'.'2.  \vnv  immi-jrants  during 
the  In  yean  from  1832  to  1*11  inclusive.  On  this  suppo- 
sition not  so  many  as  !  nts  dnriirj  these 

s,  out  of  :\'l->.  1*.")  destined  IMF  the  North  American 
provinces,  could  have  remained  in  the  Canadafl  in  1841. 
This  view  favors  our  conclusion  that  certainly  not  less 
than  60  OI  7«i  per  '•'///.  re-emi-rateil  from  those  provii 

If  we  suppose  only  I'.i9,130  immigrants  into  the  United 
States  from  and  through  the  (  'anadas  from  1831  to  I 
inclusive,  the  proportion  would   he   GT7  1  •//.   of  the 

\\'i't.  K">  destiuod  tor  the  |'riti>h  colonies  in  North  America; 
if  we  add  to  the  number  .V.).s  19  on  account  of  ?>  prr  rent. 
at.  increase  JUT  (inniini.  it  would  be 
'.  The  proportion  of  199,130  is  7972  per  cent. 
of  '-  l:.».77ii.  tin1  numher  who  are  registered  as  having  actu- 
ally arrived  at  Quohco  and  Montreal  :  and  if  we  add  to  it 
the  59,8  l'<  <>n  account  of  the  different  estimate  of  the  natu- 
ral increase,  the  proportion  would  be  103-08  per  cent,  of 
•Jl'.i.7?<»:  in  other  words,  the  immigration  from  the  Cana- 
das  into  the  United  States  would  be  greater  than  that  from 
Britain  into  those  provinces  during  the  10  years. 


*  See  his  Report  on  the  Affairs  of  British  North  America,  pp.  76,  77.    f  1(1-  P-  105. 

7 


50  FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 

From  these  considerations  it  is  certainly  safe  to  conclude 
with  those  referred  to  by  Lord  Durham  in  his  report,  that 
the  proportion  of  the  emigrants  to  the  Canadas  who  actu- 
ally settle  in  the  United  States  is  at  least  (50  per  cent,  of 
the  whole. 

The  reason  why  these  emigrants  on  their  arrival  in  the 
British  colonies  in  North  America  have  not  remained  there, 
is  the  want  of  sufficient  encouragement.  The  contrast 
between  the  provinces  and  the  states  leads  them  to  expect 
better  support  for  themselves  and  their  children  by  re-emi- 
grating to  the  states.  Lord  Durham  says,*  "on  the  Amer- 
ican side  all  is  bustle  and  activity."  "On  the  British  side 
of  the  line,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  favored  spots,  where 
some  approach  to  American  prosperity  is  apparent,  all 
seems  waste  and  desolate.  The  ancient  city  of  Montreal, 
which  is  naturally  the  commercial  capital  of  the  Canadas, 
will  not  bear  the  least  comparison  in  any  respect  with  Buf- 
falo, which  is  a  creation  of  yesterday." 

The  right  of  emigration,  or  of  a  removal  from  one  coun- 
try to  another  for  the  purpose  of  a  permanent  residence, 
may  be  considered  a  natural  right.  As  such  it  has  been 
generally  recognized  in  modern  times  in  Europe  as  well  as 
in  the  United  States.  The  exercise  of  this  right  was  inter- 
fered with  in  Prance  by  Louis  XIV.,  when  he  endeavored 
to  prevent  the  Protestants  from  leaving  the  kingdom.  Im- 
pediments to  the  exercise  of  this  right  were  placed  in  the 
way  of  manufacturers  of  wool,  silk,  iron,  &c.,  and  also  in 
the  way  of  exporting  tools  and  utensils  made  use  of  in  pre- 
paring and  working  up  manufactures  of  the  kingdom,  by  acts 
of  the  British  Parliament  in  1719,  (5  Geo.  L,  cap.  27,)  1750, 
(23  Geo.  II.,  cap.  13,)  and  1782  (22  Geo.  III.,  cap.  60.) 
These  restraints,  however,  seem  to  have  been  but  little 
regarded,  and  were  removed  in  1824,  (5  Geo.  IV.,  cap.  97.) 

*See  his  Report,  p.  75. 


POLICY    OF    GREAT    BRITAIN.  51 

The  British  government,  true  to  the  policy  of  securing 
to  the  British  nation  the  advantages  of  manufacturing  and 
i>f  ''ommerce,  imposed  these  restraints  for  over  a  century, 
and  then  when,  notwithstanding  their  vigilance,  their  me- 
chanics had  found  their  way  into  other  countries,  they 
repealed  acts  which  clashed  with  the  spirit  of  English  lib- 
erty. 

Those  who  emigrated,  if  they  failed  to  return  on  being 
notified  to  do  so.  W«T<>  alienated  and  deprived  of  the  riirht 
of  holdiirj  property  by  inheritance,  and  of  being  adminis- 
trators of  estates.  And  those  who  instigated  persons  to 
run  •  :il»m:id  machinery,  were  subject  to 

line  ;md  imprisonment.  But  notwithstanding  all  these  pre- 
cautinns.  a  larLre  number  of  mechanics,  some  under  the 
assumed  name  of  farmers,  had  contrived  to  leave  the  king- 
dom and  com.-  to  liie  United  I  -ind  tools  and  utensils 
were  transported;  and  thus  the  mechanic  arts  and  manu- 

!  In  re  from  1815  to  1824. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  very  means  which  the 
British  government  adopted  to  secure  to  Great  Britain,  in 
preference  to  their  own  colonies,  the  advantages  of  maim- 
faetnriiiLr.  had  a  reaction,  and  have  produced  the  opposite 
Is  to  what  were  intended,  and  will  doubtless  in  the 
end  prove  to  be  a  short-sighted  policy.  The  restraints 
;  act  ion  long  before  our  Revolution,  and  com- 
pelled us  to  become  ma'.mfacturers  for  the  supply  of  our 
immediate  wants:  since  then  we  have  felt  the  importance 
of  becoming  more  so.  The  second  act  of  the  Congress  of 
the  Tinted  States,  passed  July  4,  1789,  was  entitled  an 
t  for  laying  a  duty  on  goods,  wares  and  merchandises 
imported  into  the  United  States."  The  interruptions  to 
jn  commerce  before  and  during  the  second  war  with 
Knuland.  indicated  anew  the  importance  of  manufacturing, 
and  the  lesson  was  not  unheeded;  and  after  the  second 
peace,  the  attempt  was  made  in  good  earnest,  and  has  been 


52  FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 

attended  with  remarkable  success.  Had  a  different  policy 
been  pursued  by  the  British  Parliament,  the  manufactures 
in  the  United  States  might  not  have  had  one  half  the  vari- 
ety, extent  or  value  they  now  have,  and  the  time  of  their 
successful  competition  with  those  of  Great  Britain,  might 
have  been  postponed  to  a  later  day. 

The  British  government,  very  wisely  and  properly,  from 
time  to  time,  passed  acts  regulating  passenger  ships,  in 
order  to  save  the  passengers  from  the  sufferings  and  dis- 
tresses which  might  arise  from  inadequate  provision  for 
their  comfortable  support  on  their  passage. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  the  British  government  for 
many  years  to  encourage  -emigration  to  their  colonies. 
Their  object  has  been  to  relieve  the  country  of  a  portion  of 
its  surplus  population,  to  settle  the  wild  land  of  their  colo- 
nies, and  to  build  up  communities  which  will  afford  a  mar- 
ket for  British  manufactures. 

In  the  British  colonies  in  North  America,*  owing  very 
much  to  the  injudicious  system  which  has  been  adopted, 
most  of  the  emigrants  instead  of  being  colonists  have  set- 
tled in  the  bordering  states;  but  still  a  sufficient  number 
have  remained  there,  especially  in  Upper  Canada,  sensibly 
to  increase  the  population  above  what  it  would  have  been 
by  births  alone. 

The  British  government  have  authorized  the  Poor  Law 
Commissioners  to  aid  poor  persons  in  emigrating  to  the 
British  colonies,  and  parishes  and  individuals  have  fur- 
nished means  for  the  same  object,  so  that  large  numbers 
have  emigrated.  The  number  to  the  respective  colonies 
has  varied  considerably,  according  to  the  distress  in  the 
United  Kingdom,  and  according  to  the  state  of  affairs  in 
the  colonies.  In  1838  and  1839  the  number  was  very 
small  in  the  provinces  in  North  America,  in  consequence 

*  See  Lord  Durham's  Report. 


IMMIGRATION    FROM    EUROPE.  53 

of  the  political  disturbances  of  1838.  Since  1841,  the 
number  to  the  Australian  colonies  and  New  Zealand  has 
})••«  11  very  much  reduced.  The  current  is  now  strongly 
set  towards  the  United  States  and  the  British  colonies  in 
North  America. 

During  the  last  few  years,  since  the  communication  has 
]>eeii  facilitated  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Brit- 
ain. larure  sums  of  money  have  been  transmitted  by  immi- 
grants in  tin-  I'niird  States  and  Canada,  to  enable  their 
friends,  particularly  in  Ireland,  to  enii-rate  to  this  country 
and  to  ( 'anada. 

Of  late  the  subject  of  •  i  introduced 

into  tin:  British  Parliament.  A  motion  was  made  and 
agreed  to  in  the  House  of  Lords,  on  the  1th  of  June,  1817, 
for  tin-  appointment  of  a  select  committee  on  the  subject  of 
Irish  em:  In  the  remarks  winch  were  made  on  the 

motion,  a  <ii>p<>Mtion  was  manifested  favorable  to  the  fur- 
ther Cement  of  emigration  to  the  colonies,  particu- 
larly those  in  North  America.* 

On  the  continent  of  Europe  there  exists,  we  believe,  no 
leual  impediment  to  emigration.  In  France  and  in  Ger- 
many the  riiiht  is  secured  by  law.  From  the  latter  coun- 
try we  have  received  a  large  number  of  immigrants,  espe- 
cially of  late  years.  If  we  can  depend  upon  the  newspa- 
latements.  in  some  instances  whole  villages  have  left, 
am)  in  large  bodies  have  made  settlements  in  the  United 
s,  delighted  with  the  possession  of  land  which  they 
can  call  their  own.  and  stimulated  in  their  frugal  and  in- 
dustrious habits  by  the  prospect  of  enjoying  in  peace  and 
quietness  the  fruits  of  their  labor. 

A  vast  deal  of  anxiety,  suffering,  sickness  and  death  has 
been  the  lot  of  these  emigrants,  before  they  have  planted 
themselves  in  this  country  in  a  manner  to  be  considered  in 

*See  WUiner1*  European  Mail,  June  19,  I?47. 


54  FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 

any  way  comfortably  situated.  Often  it  has  happened  that 
whole  families  have  perished  before  arriving  at  the  place  of 
their  destination  ;  and  generally  we  may  suppose  the  chief 
advantage  has  accrued  to  their  children,  who  either  born 
in  this  new  country  or  brought  here  when  young,  have  not 
known  the  keen  sensibility  of  being  forever  removed  from 
the  sight  of  father-land,  and  have  only  come  into  the  en- 
joyment of  what  their  parents  spent  their  lives  in  procur- 
ing for  them. 

But  the  sufferings  attendant  on  immigration  to  America 
are  believed  to  be  now  much  less  than  they  were  in  the 
early  periods  of  its  history.  The  facilities  and  safety  of 
navigating  the  ocean  have  been  vastly  increased  since  the 
first  settlement  of  the  country.  This  continent  and  the 
European  have,  by  the  rapidity,  frequency  arid  regularity 
of  communication,  been  comparatively  made  one  country. 
Now-a-days  the  European  emigrants,  as  soon  as  they  arrive 
at  these  shores,  have  stopping  places  filled  with  an  abund- 
ance of  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  when  want  and  sick- 
ness befall  them,  as  is  often  the  case,  the  charitable  insti- 
tutions are  opened  to  soothe  their  sufferings,  and  often  the 
hand  of  individual  charity  is  extended  to  them  in  a  man- 
ner to  touch  their  hearts  with  emotions  of  gratitude.  But 
in  the  time  of  our  fathers  no  white  man  welcomed  their 
coming,  no  smiling  villages  cheered  their  hearts,  and,  as 
they  advanced  to  the  places  of  their  settlement,  they  found 
nothing  but  a  wilderness  and  wild  beasts,  and  what  was 
often  worse  than  wild  beasts — the  savages.  And  now  the 
emigrant,  if  he  plants  himself  down  in  the  wild  lands  of 
America,  has  the  conveniences  of  an  easy  transportation, 
and  is  furnished  at  every  step  of  his  path  with  an  abund- 
ance flowing  from  a  bountiful  soil  and  laid  up  by  an  indus- 
trious and  frugal  people.  We  have  not  the  means  at  hand 
of  showing  distinctly  and  exactly  the  comparative  dis- 
tresses, but  if  the  subject  were  fully  inquired  into,  we 


IMMIGRATION  FROM  EUROPE.  55 

no  doubt  but  that  the  sufferings  and  mortality  of  im- 
migrant s  to  America  are  now  very  much  less  than  they 
were  formerly  :  and  we  regard  this  as  one  of  the  evidences 
of  improvement  in  the  condition  of  mankind. 

The  government  of  the  United  States  has  never  taken 
any  measures  directly  to  encourage  foreigners  to  immigrate 
to  this  country.  The  principle  of  equality  runs  through 
all  onr  laws  and  institutions.  The  foreigner  who  comes 
:is  chance  of  bettering  his  condition  with  the 
natives  uf  the  land.  Some  have  succeeded,  notwithstund- 

\vhicli  they  have  labored.      If, 

,ainin'_r  IH-IV  for  a  time,  they  signify  a  wish  to 
make  tins  their  a«i..pt»-d  country,  and  declare  their  alle- 
giance, they  are  admitted  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges 

•  native  citixcns. 

!  hte  «»f   tin-   incidental    results  of  commerce   in   inodcrn 

time.-.  .iuiii/ati<»n  of  newly  discovered  conn- 

.      A  nioi  i  Lr   the   nations  which   have   taken   the   lead   in 

ises  were  tl;e   Portn-jiiese.  the  Spaniards,  and 

lewhat  later  the  Dutch  and  the  Knirlish. 

The  I  originally  settled  by  Europeans, 

part   under  the  auspices  of  chartered  compa- 

••  olnntary  associations.     In  coming  here  these 

lo    enjoy   privileges   denied    them  at   home. 

They  formed  colonies  under  the  general  sovereignty  of  the 

•pe. 

The  object  of  the   Kuropeaii  governments  was  at  length 

to   derive  commercial  advantages  from  building  up  these 

icular  the  British  government,  by  her 

Navigation  Laws  and  other  laws  which  were  in  harmony 
with  them,  sought  to  secure  to  the  British  nation  the  ex- 
chiM1.  Mtages  of  trade  with  their  colonies.  The 

British  colonists  in  .North  America  saw  these  advantages, 
and  soon  experienced  impositions  and  restraints  which 
they  conceived  clashed  with  their  chartered  and  natural 


56  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

rights,  and,  after  repeated  remonstrances,  at  length  resisted 
the  authority  of  the  British  government,  and  became  en- 
gaged in  the  Revolutionary  War,  which  resulted  in  the  in- 
dependence of  the  United  States. 

The  people  of  the  United  States,  considered  as  a  whole, 
are  composed  of  immigrants  and  their  descendants  from 
almost  every  country.  The  principal  portion  of  them, 
however,  derived  their  origin  from  the  British  nation,  com- 
prehending by  this  term  the  English,  the  Scotch  and  the 
Irish.  The  English  language  is  almost  wholly  used ;  the 
English  manners,  modified  to  be  sure,  predominate,  and 
the  spirit  of  English  liberty  and  enterprise  animates  the 
energies  of  the  whole  people.  English  laws  and  institu- 
tions, adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  the  country,  have 
been  adopted  here.  Lord  Durham  very  justly  says,  "the 
language,  the  laws,  the  character  of  the  North  American 
continent,  are  English  ;  and  every  race  but  the  English  (I 
apply  this  to  all  who  speak  the  English  language,)  appears 
there  in  a  condition  of  inferiority."* 

The  New  England  states,  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  Mary- 
land and  the  Carolinas,  were  principally  settled  by  the  En- 
glish ;  New  York  and  New  Jersey  by  the  Dutch  ;  Missis- 
sippi and  Louisiana  by  the  French  ;  Florida  by  the  Span- 
iards. The  new  states  have  been  settled  mainly  by  emi- 
grants from  the  older  states,  with  large  numbers  from  for- 
eign countries, — Great  Britain,  Germany,  Switzerland,  &c. 
We  have  not  the  means  at  hand  of  determining  the  exact 
number  that  have  been  derived  from  these  various  sources. 
The  tendency  of  things  is  to  mould  the  whole  into  one  peo- 
ple, whose  leading  characteristics  are  English,  formed  on 
American  soil. 

Emigration  from  Europe  has  been  going  on  now  for  over 
two  centuries, — from  the  first  settlement  of  the  British  col- 

*See  his  Report  on  the  Affairs  of  British  North  America,  p.  105. 


IMMIGRATION   FROM    EUROPE.  57 

onies  in  America.  In  some  instances  whole  companies 
perished,  and  not  a  single  individual  remained  to  tell  the 
story  of  his  companions.  By  perseverance,  one  group  after 
another  of  immigrants  arrived  ;  and,  though  visited  with 
sickness,  with  sufferings  and  with  great  mortality  at  first, 
and  afterwards  involved  in  wars  with  the  Indian  tribes, 
they  at  length  planted  themselves  here  in  various  places, 
increased  and  multiplied,  and  from  year  to  year  received 
others  to  join  thoni.  For  years  their  number  was  small,* 
their  ni-  rcely  sufficient  for  their  subsistence,  and 

thoir  dangers  great.  They  gladly  received  the  successive 
n«'\v  who,  on  thoir  arrival,  partook  of  what  had 

been  provided  by  thoir  predecessors.  From  lime  to  time 
the  colonists  spread  thoir  settlements  from  the  shores  into 
the  interior,  subduing  the  wilderness  and  converting  it  into 
oultivated  fields. 

Many  of  the  early  immi-jrants.  unable  to  enjoy  civil  and 
religious  liberty  at  homo,  were  induced  to  immigrate  to 
this  country  in  hopes  of  enjoying  it  here.  Many  of  them 
were  poor  and  sought  to  better  their  condition  in  the  wil- 
derness. 

The  independence  of  the  United  States  was  acknowl- 
edged by  Great  Britain,  and  peace  restored,  in  1783 ;  six 
years  afterwards  the  American  government  was  organized. 
The  establishment  of  a  republican  government  in  the  Uni- 
ted States  of  America  was  an  event  which  astonished 
Europe,  and  was  calculated  to  attract  to  this  country  many 
who  had  formed  ideas  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  differ- 
ent from  what  they  had  enjoyed  at  home.  To  this  was 
added  another  cause,  arising  from  the  wars  and  troubles 
which  commenced  in  Europe  soon  after  the  American  war 
closed,  and  which  continued  till  the  second  war  with  En- 
fin  1630,  the  number  of  English  colonist*  in  North  America  did  not  exceed  4,000;  in  1660, 
thirty  years  after,  they  were  supposed  to  be  not  less  than  80,000;  and  in  1701,  they  were  esti- 
mated at  262,000. 

8 


58  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

gland  in  1812.  During  this  period  vast  numbers,  many  in 
good  circumstances,  emigrated  to  this  country  to  save  their 
lives  and  such  few  effects  as  they  could  convey  across  the 
Atlantic.  By  the  combined  influence  of  these  two  causes 
immigration  to  this  country  was  sustained,  increasing  very 
much  our  population  and  extending  our  settlements. 

During  the  war  of  1812  the  emigration  seems  to  have 
been  suspended ;  but  on  the  return  of  peace  in  1815,  other 
causes  arose  which  were  calculated  to  continue  the  current 
of  migration.  The  occupations  of  people  in  Europe  were 
changed,  and  many  were  thrown  out  of  their  accustomed 
employment.  Many  were  as  restless  in  time  of  peace  as  of 
war,  but  the  impulse  was  of  a  different  kind.  Some  sought 
this  country  as  adventurers,  and  for  the  sake  of  bettering 
their  condition  or  to  guard  against  evils  which  might  in- 
volve them  and  all  they  held  dear, — evils  growing  out  of 
the  feverish  and  unsettled  state  of  things  in  Europe.  The 
small  factories  which  had  sprung  up  in  the  United  States, 
and  particularly  in  New  England,  during  the  second  war 
with  England,  were  now  prostrated  by  the  importation  of 
manufactured  goods  at  a  much  cheaper  rate  than  they 
could  be  furnished  at  home.  The  spirit  of  our  fathers, 
which  manifested  itself  especially  from  1765  to  1776, 
against  the  colonial  restrictions  on  trade  and  manufactures, 
and  which  led  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was 
still  alive ;  and  it  was  seen  that  the  emigration  from  the 
older  states  must  continue,  unless  occupation  be  found  at 
home  in  manufactures,  which  should  save  us  from  the  in- 
conveniences and  evils  our  fathers  were  unwilling  to  bear 
before  the  Revolution,  and  which  during  the  late  war  we 
had  felt  anew.  An  effort  was  made  to  establish  manufact- 
uring in  this  country  on  a  basis  which  should  be  perma- 
nent. It  was  clear  that  manufacturing  must  be  introduced 
here  at  some  time;  but  some  thought  the  time  had  not 
arrived  for  the  attempt.  The  attempt  was  made.  Me- 


PRESENT  CAUSES  OF  EMIGRATION.  ;V.I 

chanics  sometimes  left  the  United  Kingdom  as  farmers,  and 
other  persons  signified  their  intention  of  emigrating  to  the 
Cariadas,  but  some  of  these  last  were  soon  found  to  have 
gone  into  the  states.  In  18^4,  the  restraints  imposing  a 
penalty  for  enticing  away  mechanics  were  repealed  by  the 
British  Parliament.  At  this  time  the  mechanic  arts  were 
well  established  in  the  United  States,  especially  in  New 
England.  American  ingenuity  had  been  called  forth,  and 
American  mechanics  had  availed  themselves  of  the  science 
and  skill  of  foreign  nations. 

During  the  last  twenty  or  twenty-live  years,  the  number 
of  immiLrrants  from  abroad  has  been  much  increased.  At  iu- 

Js  before  as  well  as  during  this  period,  there  have  been 

MIS  of  -jreat  distn-.s.s  m  Kirjland  and  in  Europe,  during 
which  unusual  numbers  have  emigrated.  It  is  now  be- 
come almost  ;i  habit  anionir  the  dense  and  distressed  popu- 

:i  of  Europe  lor  hmje  numbers  of  persons  annually  to 
eiui'jrat--.  In  (ii  mi.  individuals  sometimes  pay  the 

ige  money  for  the  poor  who  are  desirous  of  emigrating, 
and  the  government  authorize  parish  funds  to  be  used  for 
the  .same  purpose.  The  question  has  been  introduced  into 
Parliament,  of  making  provision  on  a  large  scale  for  the 
emigration  of  the  Irish  population.  The  scarcity  of  provis- 
ions in  Europe  this  year  has  very  much  increased  the 
amount  of  emigration :  and  from  all  appearances  the  num- 
ber will  increase  for  some  tune  to  come. 

The  siirns  of  distress  to  the  poor  in  Great  Britain,  the 
coming  winter,  are  appalling,  and  the  inducements  to  emi- 
grate, from  thence  and  from  other  parts  of  Europe  will 
probably  be  as  strong  next  year  as  this.  We  shall  not  be 
surprised  to  find  that  before  long  the  British  Parliament 
should  conceive  it  to  be  a  matter  of  prudence,  no  less  than 
of  necessity,  to  aid  on  a  large  scale  emigration  to  their  col- 
onies ;  and  we  may  expect  that  at  least  half  of  their  emi- 
grants to  all  countries  will  very  soon  find  their  way  to  the 


60  FOREIGN    IMMIGRATION. 

United  States.  It  is  said  their  poor-houses  are  crowded ; 
and  the  expense  of  the  transportation  of  paupers  to  Amer- 
ica is  probably  not  greater  than  that  of  their  support  for  a 
single  year;  and  when  they  are  once  landed  in  America, 
they  will  cease  to  be  a  pecuniary  burden  upon  their  native 
country.  The  indications  also  are  equally  strong  in  favor 
of  a  large  emigration  from  Germany  to  America  the  com- 
ing year. 

There  will  have  come  to  the  United  States  this  (1847) 
year  nearly  300,000  foreigners.  Most  of  them  arrive  at 
the  great  ports  of  entry,  as  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Bos- 
ton, &c.  Many  of  them  are  poor  and  sick,  and  humanity 
forbids  our  leaving  them  to  perish  without  affording  them 
some  relief.  Already  their  support  has  become  an  import- 
ant item  of  expense  in  many  of  our  large  cities.  The 
state  of  New  York  seems  alarmed  at  the  numerous  hordes 
of  foreigners  who  enter  there.  She  has  appointed  Commis- 
sioners of  Emigration  to  attend  to  the  wants  arid  necessi- 
ties of  these  foreigners.  These  commissioners  deserve  the 
greatest  praise  for  their  faithfulness  in  the  discharge  of  ex- 
tremely arduous  duties.  According  to  their  late  report, 
101,546  foreign  passengers  arrived  at  the  port  of  New 
York  alone,  from  May  6th  to  September  30th,  inclusive,  a 
period  of  less  than  five  months.  During  this  time  6,761 
were  admitted  to  the  hospitals  and  alms-houses  under  the 
authority  of  these  commissioners.  All  but  443  arrived 
during  the  time.*  It  is  not  easy  to  stop  the  coming  of  for- 
eigners, and  it  is  not  probable  that  the  spirit  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  will  prohibit  their  landing  on  our  shores.  It 
remains,  then,  to  devise  means  to  aid  them  in  their  passage 
to  the  thinly  populated  parts  of  the  country,  and  to  the  vast 
uncultivated  regions  west,  where  there  is  land  enough, 
with  a  rich  soil,  for  them  to  procure  by  industry  the  neces- 

*  See  Report  of  the  Commissioners  of  Emigration  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  Oct.  1,  18^7.    Senate  Document,  No.  1 19,  pp.  9—12. 


COMPARATIVE   AMOUNT    OF    IMMIGRATION.  61 

saries  of  life  for  themselves  and  their  children.  Land  is 
there  cheap,  and  many  of  them  may  in  a  few  years  be- 
come independent  owners  of  the  land  they  cultivate.  In 
this  way  they  will  be  better  provided  for  than  by  remain- 
ing in  and  about  cities. 

Assuming  that  the  number  of  births  of  the  white  popu- 
lation above  the  deaths  amounts  to  2£  per  cent,  annually, 
the  white  population  in  seven  years  from  June  1,  1S40,  the 
<>f  the  last  census,  would  amount  to  l!)..'iSS.3.'5-l  June 
1,  1847,  exclusive  of  tin*  effects  of  immigration  ;  the  in- 
crease having  been  in  the  last  of  these  year*  \\(\r*Mr>.  or 
one  thousand  per  day.  This  increase  is  but  ti  little  more 
than  the  aggregate  number  of  foreigners  who  will  prob- 
ably be  i  1  at  our  custom-houses  in  1817,  and  of 
tliosi-  who  entrr  t!i-'  itliout  being  registered.  We 
are  sale  in  supposing  that  the  number  of  foreigners  coming 
h«'iv.  is  this  year,  and  will  be  next  year,  NEARLY  EQUAL  TO 

THK    i  NATI  UAL    INCREASE    oi     THK    WUoLK    WHITE   POPULA- 

TION OF  THK  rMTKI)  STATES  IN  1840. 

1 1. Miles,  in  seven  years  and  seven  months,  from  June  1, 
IMo  t«»  December  ;>1.  1s  17.  the  number  of  immigrants  reg- 
istered will  probably  be  at  least  IMin.nOO. 

Supposing  the  number  of  white  persons  in  the  United 
States,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1848,  to  be  17,500,000, 
which  is  believed  to  be  very  near  the  number,  and  the 
number  of  foreign  immigrants  to  equal  the  natural  increase 
of  this  population  at  2J  percent,  per  annum;  when  will 
the  immigrants  and  their  descendants,  at  the  same  rate  of 
increase,  equal  the  number  of  white  persons  in  the  country 
January  1,  1848]  We  have  already  seen  (p.  44)  that  in 
50  years  from  1790,  the  number  from  foreign  immigration 
•  •ded  the  whole  number  of  the  whites  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  period  by  762,139.  This  foreign  population  in 
26  years  to  January  1,  1874,  will  be  17,855,705,  exceeding 
the  number  of  the  whites  above  supposed  (17,500,000,)  by 


62  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

355,705;  and  the  white  population,  exclusive  of  this  for- 
eign portion,  will  then  be  only  31,209,322.  but  including 
it,  49,065,027.  We  suggest  this  view  merely  to  show  the 
integral  part  which  the  foreign  immigrants  constitute  of  the 
whole  population  of  the  United  States. 

We  have  thus  arrived  at  a  period  in  the  history  of  for- 
eign immigration,  when  the  number  of  foreigners  coming 
here,  one  half  of  whom  may  be  considered  adults,  nearly 
equals  the  whole  natural  increase  of  the  white  population 
of  the  United  States.  Such  a  mass  of  population  annually 
diffused  among  these  states,  must,  as  they  mingle  with  the 
people  generally,  or  as  they  concentrate  in  cities,  or  settle 
in  large  numbers  in  particular  localities,  have  most  import- 
ant effects  on  the  condition  and  character  of  the  people. 
We  have  seen  that  in  Boston  and  New  York  city  about  one 
third  part  of  the  population  are  foreigners  by  birth.  The 
character  of  a  nation  results  from  the  character  of  individ- 
uals, and  is  chiefly  determined  by  the  influences  that  pro- 
ceed from  the  central  places.  By  the  facilities  of  suffrage, 
the  naturalized  citizens  must  soon  be  sufficient  to  decide  all 
elections  and  carry  all  measures  on  which  side  soever  they 
may  be  induced  to  vote,  parties  having  been  nearly  equal, 
from  an  early  period  since  the  organization  of  our  govern- 
ment, on  important  measures  of  policy.  The  character  of 
those  who  are  elected  to  office,  and  of  the  measures  which 
they  adopt,  reacts  upon  the  well-being  of  the  people  from 
whom  the  power  originated. 

The  attention  of  Congress  has  been  frequently  directed 
to  the  subject  of  the  naturalization  of  foreigners ;  but  the 
conditions  of  voting,  in  which  resides  their  direct  political 
power,  are  determined  by  each  state  for  itself.  In  most  or 
all  of  the  states  naturalization  is  a  pre-requisite  to  voting; 
but,  owing  to  the  carelessness  and  fraud  in  obtaining  natu- 
ralization papers,  the  looseness  of  the  slate  laws  and  the 
connivance  of  partizans,  it  cannot  be  denied,  as  it  has  been 


CONCLUSION.  63 

proved  by  abundant  testimony,  that  great  frauds  have  been 
committed,  and  many  individuals  have  been  admitted  to 
the  polls,  in  times  of  strong  party  excitement,  who  were 
not  entitled  to  the  privilege  by  a  fair  construction  of  the 
existing  laws  of  the  United  States  or  of  individual  states.* 

Public  sentiment  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity,  is  the  index 
of  that  of  Massachusetts,  and  in  a  great  degree  that  of  New 
Km/land  :  if  you  would  know  the  politics  of  the  Empire 
Suite,  h-aru  those  of  New  York  city  and  of  Albany;  we 
ran  it'll  what  to  expect  from  Pennsylvania  after  learning 
the  party  movements  in  Harrisburg  and  Philadelphia.  If 
we  name  a  fe\v  more  principal  places,  shall  we  not  compre- 
hend elements  enough  for  materially  affecting  the  destinies 
of  this  -reat  repnhlie  .'  Do  not  the  men  who  are  chosen  to 
office,  propose  measures  and  frame  laws  which  regulate  all 
that  we  hold  dear  in  the  states  and  in  the  republic  .'  In 
HDL'  lo  the  foreign  voice,  do  candidates,  when  they  be- 
come members.  alway.s  se,-U  to  be  controlled  by  the  moni- 
tions of  wisdom,  irrespective  of  party  .' 

Is  it  not  obvious  that  a  few  only  of  the  foreigners  who 
come  here  have  any  attachment  to  our  institutions?  and 
do  not  most  of  them,  in  the  fruition,  find  our  liberty  a  dif- 
ferent thmir  from  the  picture,  in  their  imaginations  before 
crossing  the  Atlantic  !  In  their  disappointment,  are  they 
faultless  .;  and  are  they  as  industrious  as  they  should  be  to 
improve  our  institutions?  or.  in  their  zeal,  is  not  their  first 
step  too  often  to  tear  them  down  I 

The  majority,  however,  of  those  who  come  here,  know 

nothing  of  a  rational  or  regulated  liberty,  nor  consider  the 

guards  necessary  to  preserve  it.    The  liberty  in  their  minds 

licentiousness  which  has  no  respect  for  the  rights  of 

others.     They  come  here  smarting  under  injustice  and  op- 

*See  Reports  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  Janu' 
ary  27th  and  March  3d,  lS4->,  with  Testimony  relating  to  the  Violation  of  the  Naturalization 
Laws. 


64  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

pression  ;  to  check  by  salutary  restraints  seems  to  them  op- 
pression ;  and  to  hate  oppression  and  oppressive  rulers  is 
the  only  step  they,  in  their  ignorance,  have  thus  far  taken 
towards  a  rational  liberty.  By  our  laws  they  are  admitted 
to  political  privileges  upon  easier  terms  than  we  admit  our 
own  sons, — privileges,  which,  in  almost  every  state,  are 
denied  to  a  man  on  account  of  color,  though  his  father  or 
grandfather  was  the  friend  and  companion  in  arms  of 
Washington.  Is  it  that  our  privileges  are  too  good  for  us, 
— too  good  to  be  preserved  ?  Is  it  that  in  our  exstasy  we 
would,  like  children,  part  with  our  birthright,  and,  after  it 
is  gone,  weep  for  the  loss  that  is  irreparable  ?  When  they 
receive  employment,  and  are  well  fed,  are  not  they  the  first 
to  insist  on  higher  wages,  in  the  cant  language,  to  strike? 

There  may  be  some  few  exceptions.  There  may  be 
those  whose  enlightened  and  liberal  minds  appreciate  our 
institutions,  and  feel  the  value  of  their  blessings, — who  for- 
bear taking  any  undue  part  in  the  political  affairs  of  our 
country, — whose  deportment  and  worth  prove  them  to  be 
worthy  of  the  country  of  their  adoption? 

The  moral  and  physical  condition  of  these  immigrants, 
after  undergoing  many  trials,  which  are  to  be  expected 
from  settling  in  a  foreign  country,  is  generally  very  much 
improved.  Many  of  them  must  for  a  time  remain  in  sub- 
ordinate stations.  Some  are  successful  and  gain  wealth, 
and  their  children,  we  may  suppose,  as  they  mingle  more 
and  more  with  the  people  of  this  country,  will  derive  a  rich 
legacy  from  the  anxieties  and  privations  of  their  parents. 
But  is  the  country  truly  benefitted  by  this  great  foreign  im- 
migration ?  Have  the  people  been  made  wiser  or  better  or 
happier?  It  has  been  said  that  without  these  foreigners 
our  rail-roads  and  canals  could  not  have  been  constructed. 
These  improvements,  it  is  true,  may  have  been  made  a 
year  or  two  earlier,  (and  in  many  of  the  states  it  would 
have  been  better  if  we  had  hurried  less,)  in  consequence 


CONCLUSION.  65 

of  so  many  foreigners  being  in  the  country,  whom  we  were 
obliged  to  employ  in  some  way  or  other,  or  support  them 
without  labor.  The  progress  of  the  internal  improvements, 
a  year  or  two  in  advance  of  what  they  would  have  been 
without  this  foreign  labor,  will  be  a  very  poor  compensa- 
tion, if  offset  by  the  corruption  of  manners,  the  forfeiture 
of  freedom,  and  the  transfer  of  power  to  those  who  know 
not  how  to  use  it  wisely.  There  are  other  things  of  value 
in  this  world  besides  merely  physical  aggrandizement. 

These  foreigners  coin.-  here  to  benefit  themselves,  not 
from  any  love  of  us  or  of  our  country.  They  are  admit- 
ted to  In-  partakers  of  the  fruits  derived  from  the  institutions 
of  our  fathers.  They  find  here  a  diffusion  of  the  comforts 
of  life,  and  of  tin-  m»-:m>  oi  education,  unknown  in  the  land 
of  their  birth.  They  eannot  help  being  affected,  in  the 
<-<>mse  of  time,  by  the  blessings  which  surround  them. 
Some  of  them  have  obtained  }>n>!itahle  situations,  and  not 
unfrequrntly  are  they  employed  in  the  professions,  and  as 
iiers  of  youth,  though  it  is  ditiicult  to  see  in  them  qual- 
ifications equal  to  those  of  our  own  citizens. 

Finally,  this  removal  of  people  from  the  place  of  their 
birth  to  a  distant  country  for  a  permanent  residence,  year 
alter  year,  for  over  two  centuries,  leaving  their  homes  in 
want  and  in  sorrow,  with  a  sea  of  doubtful  trials  before 
them.  and.  when  arriving  here,  possessed  of  scarcely  the 
means  of  subsistence,  and  often  saved  from  famine  and 
death  by  the  kind  sympathies  of  those  who  have  come 
here  before  them,  but  at  length,  if  not  in  themselves,  in 
tin  ir  children,  subduing  the  wilderness  and  converting  it 
into  fruitful  fields,  establishing  the  conveniences  of  civil- 
i/.ed  life,  planting  churches  for  the  worship  of  God,  diffus- 
ing over  the  land  the  means  of  education,  and  founding  an 
empire  of  equal  law  from  the  Atlantic  shores  to  the  Pacific 
ocean,  over  a  population  now  amounting  to  twenty  mil- 
lions, and  destined  to  amount  to  nearly  one  hundred  mil- 
9 


66  FOREIGN   IMMIGRATION. 

lions  upon  the  opening  of  another  century, — this  migration 
of  masses,  numbering  of  late  years  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  annually,  now  to  nearly  three  hundred  thousand 
annually,  not  in  the  warlike  spirit  of  the  Goths  and  Van- 
dals who  overran  the  Roman  empire,  and  destroyed  the 
monuments  of  art,  and  the  evidences  of  civilization,  but  in 
the  spirit  of  peace,  anxious  to  provide  for  themselves  and 
their  children  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  apparently  ordained 
by  Providence  to  relieve  the  countries  of  the  old  world,  and 
to  serve  great  purposes  of  good  to  mankind, — is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  spectacles  the  world  ever  saw.  This  move- 
ment is  to  go  on  till  the  western  continent  is  filled  with  in- 
habitants. The  future  destiny  of  these  states  none  can  tell  ; 
every  accession  of  new  comers  introduces  new  elements 
of  moral  and  political  power  into  the  community,  besides 
the  insensible  changes  which  are  constantly  taking  place. 
If  past  experience  has  shown  the  result  of  this  immigration 
to  America  to  have  been  a  modification  of  our  institutions 
and  manners  from  year  to  year,  do  not  the  signs  of  the 
times  indicate  some  danger  of  important  changes  in  the 
very  structure  of  society,  as  the  current  becomes  more  and 
more  swollen  in  consequence  of  the  facilitated  means  of 
conveyance,  and  of  the  multiplied  necessities  of  emigrat- 
ing? The  foreigner,  as  he  leaves  the  place  of  his  nativity, 
knows  not  the  fortune  nor  the  sufferings  that  await  him; 
like  him,  ought  not  we  as  a  people  to  feel  a  deep  solicitude, 
lest  the  institutions  left  us  by  our  fathers  fail  of  being 
transmitted  unimpaired  to  our  children  ?  If  the  above 
statements  and  views  are  correct,  it  becomes  the  people  of 
the  United  States  to  give  this  subject  their  most  deliberate 
consideration,  not  merely  on  account  of  their  own  well- 
being,  but  on  account  of  that  of  the  foreign  immigrants, 
for  they  both  with  their  children  must  be  united  together 
as  one  people. 


APPENDIX. 


IT  is  the  object  of  this  Appendix  to  present  some  extracts 
from  several  sources,  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  the  his- 
tory of  Foreign  Immigration  into  the  United  States,  and  of 
lining  the  positions  taken  in  the  foregoing  essay.  A 
large  portion  of  them  are  derived  from  Niles'  Weekly  Reg- 
ister, published  at  Baltimore,  the  editor  of  which  gave  par- 
ticular attention  to  the  collection  of  facts,  and  of  observa- 
tions relating  to  the  subject,  for  several  years  prior  to  1820, 
when  the  aet  of  Congress  was  carried  into  effect,  requiring 
a  registration  of  the  passengers  from  foreigixcoun  tries,  an- 
nually arriving  in  the  several  collection  districts. 

The  British  government  had  it  under  consideration  in  1815,  whether  it 
might  be  advisable  to  offer  the  next  year  some  degree  of  encouragement,  to 
as  willing  to  proceed  as  settlers  to  the  British  provinces  in  North  Amer- 
ica.— Nilei  Register,  Vol.  IX.,  p.  309. 

January  6,  1816  — "Among  those  who  have  lately  arrived  in  the  United 
States,  as  their  future  home,  are  several  late  British  officers,  who  had  an  op- 
portunity of  knowing  something  of  our  country  and  people  during  the  war." 
Id.  p.  332. 

July  13.—"  We  understand  by  a  recent  arrival  from  Ireland,  that  the  Amer- 
ican vessels  are  put  on  the  same  footing  as  English  vessels,  as  far  as  respects 
the  conveyance  of  passengers  to  the  United  States, — that  is,  that  they  are  al- 
lowed to  bring  one  passenger  for  every  two  tons.  Formerly  they  were  only 
allowed  to  bring  one  passenger  for  every  five  tons." 

'  Numerous  emigrations  are  daily  taking  place  from  this  country  to  America. 
There  are  about  twelve  American  ships  now  nearly  ready  to  sail  for  the  Uni- 
ted States  ;  and  the  whole  of  them  are  provided  with  passengers,  consisting 
of  mechanics  and  persons  brought  up  to  agriculture.  Some  of  the  ships  in 
question  have  agreed  to  take  as  many  as  eighty,  others  fifty,  on  board.  For 
their  passage  each  person  is  to  pay  £10  andfind'himself.  Some  say  the  Amer- 
ican government,  in  the  end,  are  to  be  the  paymasters.' — (London  paper.") 


68  APPENDIX. 

"  It  is  stated  in  the  London  Evening  Star,  that  more  than/ae  thousand  able 
seamen  have  emigrated  to  America  since  the  termination  of  the  war ! ! " — 
Id.  p.  346. 

"Among  the  many  great  and  useful  men  that  daily  arrive,  or  are  expected 
to  arrive  in  the  United  States,  from  maddened  Europe,  we  hear  of  Chaptal, 
the  famous  chemist,  and  Lacapede,  the  celebrated  naturalist.  We  bid  them 
welcome."— Id.  p.  348, 

July  20.— "Hardy  laborers,  ingenious  mechanics,  intelligent  merchants, 
learned  doctors,  profound  philosophers  and  gallant  soldiers  are  seeking  in  our 
country  the  {  peace,  liberty  and  safety '  with  the  right  of  <  pursuing  their  own 
happiness'  which  the  land  of  their  fathers  denies  them.  Among  others  we 
hear  that  Mina,  the  younger,  the  famous  Spanish  general,  and  Dr.  Mier  y 
Guerra,  a  learned  native  of  Mexico,  and  a  warm  friend  of  freedom,  have  re- 
cently arrived  from  London.  We  have  the  following  article  from  the  Vevay 
Indiana  Register :— '  M.  Lakanal,  a  distinguished  French  gentleman,  (mem- 
ber of  the  National  Institute  of  France  and  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  remarkable 
for  his  republican  principles,  has  lately  arrived  here  with  his  family.  He 
has  purchased  an  estate  on  the  bank  of  the  Ohio,  two  miles  above  Vevay,  on 
the  Kentucky  side.  M.  Vairin,  a  professor  of  mathematics,  has  also  arrived 
from  France,  with  a  part  of  his  family  ;  he  has  purchased  a  farm  on  the 
river,  one  mile  below  Vevay.  May  happiness  attend  them  in  our  land  of 
liberty — their  adopted  conntry.'  " — Id.  p.  352. 

July  27. — "  The  British  and  other  newspapers  teem  with  notices  of  the  em- 
igration of  their  people  to  the  United  States.  The  persons  alluded  to  are  chiefly 
farmers  and  mechanics — to  add  to  the  labor,  and  of  consequence  increase  the 
wealth  of  our  country  in  peace,  and  hold  the  nerve  to  assist  in  defending  it  in 
war.  We  know  that  the  Irish  emigrants  much  aided  to  fill  the  ranks  of  the  army 
during  the  war,  and  they  fought  gallantly  for  freedom,  feeling  that  they  had 
a  share  in  the  contest  as  their  own.  Several  vessels  with  passengers  from 
Ireland  have  arrived  since  our  last,  and  nine  more  from  Newry  alone  are 
immediately  expected— they  are  British  ships,  one  of  great  burthen,  had 
three  hundred  and  fifty  engaged.  An  English  paper  of  May  20th,  says  : 
'  Several  farmers  who  lately  occupied  about  four  thousand  acres  of  land  in 
Lincolnshire,  have  recently  emigrated  to  America,  after  having  sold  all  their 
live  and  dead  stock.  They  were  accompanied  by  the  curate  of  the  village.' 
And  a  Genoa  article  of  the  12th  of  the  same  month  tells  us,  that  '  a  great 
many  Swiss  from  all  the  Protestant  cantons  are  going  soon  to  depart  from 
Basle  for  America.  Commerce  and  manufactures  languish  both  at  Basle 
and  in  the  parts  of  Germany  next  the  Rhine.  As  no  Swiss  or  German  man- 
ufactures are  now  permitted  to  enter  France,  many  have  almost  wholly  ceased 
to  work.  Last  Thursday,  many  wagons  with  manufactures,  both  German  and 
Swiss,  having  presented  themselves  at  the  French  custom-house,  on  the  fron- 
tiers, to  pay  the  duties,  were  ordered  to  return  back,  with  the  notification 
that,  till  further  orders,  no  wagon  with  goods  could  enter  France.'  " 


APPENDIX.  69 

"  These  are  the  sorts  of  men  that  we  want.  One  Swiss  is  worth  a  hundred 
of  the  cockney  tape-sellers  with  which  our  cities  have  teemed." — Id  p.  366. 

August.  10. — "The  vast  emigration  from  England  causes  considerable 
alarm.  Many  persons  of  fortune  are  leaving  the  land  of  taxation  for  France 
and  other  parts  of  Europe,  and  the  United  Slates.  The  street  in  which  the 
French  ambassador  lives  in  London,  is  crowded  by  people  applying  for  pass- 
ports, and  thousands  have  been  issued.  The  state  of  trade  may  be  judged  of 
by  this — that  '  not  fifty  foreign  vessels  are  in  the  Thames/  and  the  London 
docks,  which  used  to  employ  fifteen  hundred  persons,  do  not  employ  five  hun- 
dred." 

"Germany,  in  general,  is  in  an  unsettled  and  very  depressed  state. 
France,  it  is  intimated,  will  be  unable  to  meet  the  next  payment  to  the  allies 
for  her  deliverance." — Id.  p. 

"Letters  from  Liverpool  give  us  distressing  accounts  of  their  state;  twenty 
thousand  hands  ;ire  out  of  employ  in  Birmingham  alone,  and  Manchester  is 
doing  only  hall'-v  Bristol.  Button,  Culne,  Gloucester,  Worces- 

ter, London,  &c.  Ace.  There  are  daily  failures  of  those  of  small  capital,  and 
the  moat  wealthy  are  hardly  put  to  it  to  keep  up."— Id.  p.  3(.t7. 

"A  ship  has  arrived  at  New  York  from  .-r-rs,  among 

whom  ••.  late  Consul  at  and  fifty-two  artists  and  manu- 

factun  -  r>  ami  husbandmen;  two  hun- 

dred and  thirty-two  other  perM>n.>  arrived  in  New  York  in  one  day,  from  Hull, 
England,  and  \Vaterlbrd,  Ireland.  Vessels  are  almost  every  day  reaching 
some  of  our  ports,  with  passengers  from  England,  Ireland,  France,  Germany, 
&c.  The  M\i>-.  h'T«'toiure  >j« 'ken  of,  embarked  in  Holland,  and  sailed  on 
the  llth  of  June.  A  Liverpool  paper  complains  that  the  spirit  of  emigration 
has  reached  «the  metropolis  and  the  heart  of  the  United  Kingdom  ;'  and  re- 
lates that  a  vessel  has  been  seized  in  the  Thames,  for  attempting  to  bring  out 
two  hundred  and  thirty-one  persons  instead  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-four, 
all  lh,i  entitled  to  he  law  allowing  one  to  every  two  tons. 

Many  vessels  are  mentioned  in  England  as  being  engaged  to  bring  passen- 
gers to  the  United  States/'— Id.  p.  400. 

August  17. — "  We  have  not  exactly  added  up  the  amount  of  the  passengers 
from  Europe,  who  have  reached  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  for 
a  week  past ;  but  believe  we  shall  not  be  far  from  the  truth  when  we  estimate 
them  at  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  persons  ;  of  whom  four  hundred  and 
ten  are  Swiss,  arrived  at  Philadelphia,  via  Holland ;  the  rest  are  from  Ireland, 
England  and  France." 

"  The  current  of  emigration  to  the  United  States  has  been  very  strong  for 
the  last  six  months  ;  but  judging  by  what  we  see  in  the  British  and  other  for- 
eign papers,  we  can  consider  it  as  hardly  begun.  The  people  are  prepar- 
ing, in  many  places,  to  leave  their  country  by  neighborhoods  or  parishes,  as 
it  were,  and  in  the  new  world,  to  possess  and  enjoy  the  friends  of  their  youth, 
by  settling  together." 


70  APPENDIX. 

"  The  proceeding  has  excited  much  alarm  in  England.  The  papers  teem 
with  paragraphs  to  check  the  hope  of  the  people  to  benefit  by  the  change  ; 
and  government  is  loudly  called  upon  to  interfere  to  prevent  the  <  ruinous 
drain  of  the  most  useful  part  of  the  population  of  the  United  Kingdom.' 
They  note,  in  detail,  the  arrivals  at  New  York  with  passengers,  and  on  sum- 
ming up  the  amount,  which  was  only  two  hundred  and  twenty-nine  for  the 
week  stated,  they  say  :  '  these  facts  certainly  are  serious  ;  coupled  with  the 
sentiments  which  are  now  prevalent  in  America  with  regard  to  England,  and 
with  respect  to  the  avowed  probability  of  another  war,  at  no  distant  period, 
with  this  country,  they  cannot  fail  to  awaken  reflections  of  the  most  gloomy 
kind  to  all  who  wish  for  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  world.'  "  *  * 

#  *  "  We  have  no  reason  to  fear  an  excess  of  labor  for  many  years  to 
come.  Our  cities  are  crowded  and  business  is  dull,  but  the  interior  presents 
a  vast  and  almost  exhaustless  field  for  industry.  Every  man  that  arrives 
may  be  fairly  considered  as  adding  at  least  three  hundred  dollars  a  year  to 
the  national  wealth,  while  he  also  creates  a  home  market  to  the  value  of  what 
he  consumes ;  and  increases  the  national  safety  by  adding  to  the  effective 
population  of  the  republic.  Let  them  come.  Good  and  wholesome  laws, 
with  the  avenues  to  wealth  and  independence,  opened  to  honest  industry, 
will  tame  even  Mr.  Peel's  '  untameably  ferocious '  Irishmen,  as  well  as  sup- 
press English  mobs,  crying  out  for  employment  and  bread,  without  the  nse  of 
the  bayonet." — Id.  p.  401. 

"  Bankruptcies  in  the  London  Gazette  for  the  last  month,  two  hundred  and 
eighteen ! 

Failures  not  in  the  Gazette,  at  least  two  thousand ! 

Compositions  cannot  be  under  ten  thousand. 

Insolvents,  who  have  no  assets  at  all,  innumerable." — Id.  p.  409. 

"  The  spirit  of  emigration  makes  a  great  uproar  in  England.  Cobbett 
says,  '  the  hive  is  in  commotion — the  bees  seem  resolved  no  longer  to  support 
the  drones  and  wasps.'  To  check  it  many  paragraphs  appear  like  the  follow- 
ing from  the  Courier :" 

"  '  Every  thing  is  very  dull  in  America.  So  great  is  the  stagnation  of  trade, 
that  but  very  few  of  the  merchant  vessels  are  employed.  Our  countrymen 
who  have  emigrated  are  in  a  most  deplorable  state  ;  upwards  of  a  thousand 
of  them  have  applied  to  the  British  Consul  at  New  York  to  be  sent  home 
with  passports  as  distressed  British  subjects.'  " 

"  Motto  for  the  new  custom-house  in  Thames  street,  now  nearly  finished  : 
1  Sacred  to  the  Memory  of  departed  Commerce.7  " — Id.  p.  411. 

"  It  is  stated  that  sixteen  hundred  men,  women  and  children  had  engaged 
passages  in  different  vessels  at  Newry,  Dublin  and  Belfast,  to  cross  the  At- 
lantic  ;  and  that  emigration  from  Switzerland  increased."— Id.  p.  412. 

August  24. — *  *  "  We  have  carefully  examined  all  the  columns  of  ship 
news  which  have  reached  us,  in  regular  succession,  for  the  week  ending  yes- 


APPENDIX.  71 

terday  morning.  The  result  of  this  examination  is  given  belo\r.  The  amount 
will  surprise  our  readers ;  but  it  is  certainly  rather  under  than  above  the  true 
number  of  persons  that  have  arrived  in  the  United  States  from  Europe  within 
the  time  stated." 

"  The  sentiment  of  Washington  is  our  sentiment.  In  his  reply  to  a  con- 
gratulatory address  from  the  citizens  of  Baltimore,  he  observed  :  '  that  so  long 
as  this  country  continued  sensible  of  the  blessings,  civil  and  religious,  it  had  attained, 
so  long  would  it  continue  to  be  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed  from  every  land.'  We 
wish  to  the  oppressed — the  poor  man  seeking  bread, — peace  and  plenty,  and 
health  and  happiness.  'This  be  a  main  queer  country,'  said  a  Yorkshireman 
who,  with  three  well-grown  sons  and  a  large  family  of  small  children,  was 
ling  from  New  York  to  Zanesville,  to  a  gentleman  who  met  him  not  far 
from  Bedford,  Pa.,  '  it  is  a  main  queer  country,'  said  he  « for  I  have  asked  the 
laboring  folks  all  along  the  road  koto  maty  meats  they  eat  in  a  day,  and  they  nil  said 
three  and  sometimes  four,  if  they  fronted  them.  We  have  but  tiro  at  home,  and 
they  are  scanty  enough,  sir,'  continued  he,  in  his  broad  dialect,  which  I  know 
not  how  to  express  with  En  •.  <  Only  think,  sir,'  added  he,  '  many 

of  these  people  [the  laborers]  asked  me  to  eat  and  drink  with  them  ;  we  can't  >ay 
so  in  Yorkshire,  gir,  for  we  have  not  enough  for  M  What  a  field  for 

reflection  is  there  in  the  facts  here  stated?  What  American  would  have 
thought  of  inquiring  hon  many  meals  the  working  people  eat  in  a  day?  But 
this  was  thr  first  thing  the  poor  Englishman  thought  of,  and  he  had  done  it 
' all  alo*«  the  road'  to  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  matter.  He  was  de- 
lighted with  the  prospect  of  a  full  belly  for  himself  and  his  children  ;  the 
country  '  was  worth  fighting  for'  where  the  laborers  eat  three  times  a  day  ; 
and  he  voluntarily  declared  that  he  and  his  three  boys  would  support  it  as 
long  as  they  could  stand  ;  '  besides,  sir,'  said  he,  '  I  have  some  more  coming 
on  in  th«>  wanon  that  will  soon  be  able  to  help  us.'  "  *  * 

"  Recapitulation  of  passengers  who  arrived  at  the  ports  of  the  United  States 
for  one  week,  ending  yesterday,  August  23,  1816.  The  period  is  fixed  at 
Baltimore,  and  the  account  made  up  from  the  regular  mails  arriving  there 
within  the  time  stated  :— From  Ireland,  1084  ;  Scotland,  199  ;  England,  59  ; 
France,  12 ;  add  for  the  passenger  vessels  whose  number  is  not  stated,  60 
each,  120— Total.  1171.'' 

"  To  which  we  might  add  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  more, 
that  have  arrived  in  vessels  not  noticed  at  all  as  having  passengers,  bringing 
only  a  few  each,  besides  those  which  may  have  escaped  our  notice,  or  have 
not  been  heard  of,  coming  into  other  parts." — Id.  p.  419. 

"In  page  419  the  reader  will  observe  an  interesting  account  of  the  number 
of  persons  who  have  reached  the  United  States  from  Europe  in  one  week. 
The  real  number  cannot  be  under  sixteen  hundred  for  the  space  of  seven 
days  !"  *  *— Id.  p.  431. 

August  31. — "  We  have  several  arrivals  during  the  week  with  passengers 


72  APPENDIX. 

from  Ireland,  England,  fee.  The  stream  is  constant,  though  the  number  has 
not  been  so  great  as  it  was  for  the  two  or  three  preceding  weeks." — Vol.  XL, 
p.  15. 

September  2.— Eight  hundred  passengers  for  the  week  ending  Aug.  30,  and 
one  thousand  and  twenty-seven  ending  Sept.  6,  1816. — Id.  p.  32. 

October  12. — "The  [English]  Courier  (to  deter  from  emigration,)  says  it  is 
the  practice  of  American  captains  who  have  claims  on  the  emigrants,  to  sell 
them  to  satisfy  such  claims."— Id.  p.  105. 

October  19. — "  Emigration  continues  at  the  rate  of  from  four  to  six  hundred 
per  week,  from  England,  Ireland,  &c.  Another  large  body  of  Swiss  is  ex- 
pected."— Id.  p.  127. 

November  9. — "  Emigration  continues  as  lively  as  at  any  period  we  have 
noticed.  Many  persons  are  arriving  from  Holland,  and  the  current  from  the 
British  dominions  is  steady." — Id.  p.  175. 

November  23. — "  Many  emigrants  from  Holland,  England,  Ireland,  &c., 
have  reached  the  United  States  within  the  last  week — and  the  import  of  spe- 
cie continues.  Men  and  money  appear  happily  pouring  in  upon  us  at  the 
same  time." 

"  Many  distinguished  Frenchmen  and  others  lately  arrived  in  the  United 
States,  have  associated  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  large  settlement  some- 
where on  the  Ohio  or  Mississippi.  They  propose  to  purchase  one  hundred 
thousand  acres  of  land,  and  will  invite  emigrants  from  Europe.  They  expect 
to  cultivate  the  vine.  Their  plan  seems  well  digested  and  supported,  and 
will  probably  succeed."*— Id.  p.  208. 

January  11,  1817. — "A  Greenock  paper  notices  the  return  to  that  place  of 
thirty  persons  who  had  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  disappointed  in  their 
calculations— several  of  them  weavers,  who  could  not  get  employ,  'while 
British  manufactures  were  selling  far  below  the  original  cost, — adding  that  other 
descriptions  of  mechanics  and  laborers  had  done  better,  and  found  employ, 
«kc.,  yet  that  the  master  of  the  vessel  reported  that  if  he  would  have  brought 
them  back  gratuitously,  he  might  have  had  a  thousand  passengers  from  New 
York." 

"  To  show  the  height  (says  this  paper,)  to  which  this  emigrating  mania  has 
arisen,  we  may  notice  that  as  we  are  told,  among  the  passengers  returned  by 
this  vessel,  is  a  gamekeeper,  belonging  to  Yorkshire,  who  could  not  believe, 
until  he  had  ocular  demonstration  of  the  fact,  that  the  Yankees  had  no  more 
use  for  his  services,  than  the  people  of  Buenos  Ayres  had  for  the  stoves  and 

*  March  3,  1817. — An  act  (ch.  61,)  passed  Congress,  entitled  an  '  Act  to  set  apart  and  dispose 
of  certain  public  lands  for  the  encouragement  and  cultivation  of  the  vine  and  olive,'  by  which 
four  contiguous  townships,  each  six  miles  square,  of  vacant  lands,  lying  in  the  Mississippi  ter- 
ritory, were  to  be  sold  to  the  agent  or  agents  of  the  late  emigrants  from  France,  who  have  asso- 
ciated for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  settlement  in  the  United  States, — said  lands  to  be  paid  for  at 
the  end  of  14  years,  at  two  dollars  an  acre. 


APPENDIX.  73 

hearth-mats  which  some  of  our  sage  speculators  sent  out  a  few  years  ago.  in 
the  infancy  of  our  commerce  in  that  quarter." — Id.  p.  330. 

May  31.—"  From  the  10th  of  March  to  the  27th  May,  there  arrived  at  New 
York  two  hundred  and  fifty  vessels,  in  which  came  sixteen  hundred  passen- 
gers. Many  have  arrived  at  other  ports — a  vessel  with  one  hundred  and 
thirty  has  just  reached  Philadelphia  from  Guernsey.'1—^/.  XII.,  p.  224. 

June  21. — "Two  thousand  Quaker  Hollanders  were  about  to  sail  from 
Antwerp  for  Philadelphia.  One  ship  with  three  hundred  and  fifty  of  them 
had  actually  left  that  port  destined  as  stated.  These  emigrants  are  probably 
wealthy. " 

umdred  persons  were  also  embarking  at  Amsterdam  for  the  Uni- 
ted States."— Id.  p.  L' 

"Among  the  foreign  articles  is  some  notice  of  a  great  emigration  about  to 
be  made  to  the  United  States  from  Holland.  Many  persons  also  arrive  from 
England  and  Ireland  "—Id.  p.  M 

July  5. — It  is  stated  that  from  March  10th  to  May  30th,  1817,  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  hfty-ei^ht  British  subjects  had  arrived  at  New  York,  and 
received  from  James  Buchanan,  the  British  consul,  passports  to  entitle 
them  to  grants  of  land  in  British  North  America,  chiefly  in  Upper  Canada. 
Id.  p.  304. 

July  I'.'.— "  Very  many  passengers  are  arriving  in  vessels  from  Europe;  in 
one  of  them  four  hundred  and  nine  persons,  none  over  thirty  years  of  age, 
have  reached  Philadelphia  from  Amsterdam." 

"A  number  of  French  emigrants  are  about  to  form  a  settlement  near  the 
confluence  of  the  Alabama  and  Tombigbee.  Commissioners  to  select  the 
spot  have  arrived  at  Mobile." — Id.  p.  336. 

August  2. — "Account  of  emigrants  from  foreign  countries  arriving  in  the 
United  States,  collected  from  the  shipping  lists  received  at  the  office  of  the 
Weekly  Register,  for  two  weeks,  ending  yesterday  morning,  Aug.  1.  Reca- 
pitulation ;  England,  649  ;  Wales,  51  ;  Ireland,  581 ;  Scotland,  134  ;  Germa- 
ny and  Switzerland  via  Amsterdam,  &c,  826  ;  France.  31. — Total,  2272.'' 

"  By  looking  over  the  ship  news  to  make  out  the  preceding,  we  have  reason 
to  suppose  that  the  number  will  be  considerably  greater  for  the  next  two 
weeks,  many  from  Holland  being  immediately  expected." — Id.  p.  359. 

"  The  government  of  Basle  has  just  announced  that  it  will  deliver  no  more 
passports  for  the  United  States,  but  to  such  emigrants  as  shall  exhibit  at  the 
chancery  a  bill  of  exchange  of  at  least  two  hundred  florins  upon  Holland, 
payable  at  Amsterdam.  This  measure  has  the  advantage  of  preventing 
inconsiderate  resolutions  and  their  disastrous  results." — Id.  p.  365. 

August  16. — "  Within  the  last  two  weeks,  ending  yesterday  morning,  we 
have  received  accounts  of  the  arrival  of  twenty-six  vessels,  at  the  several 
ports  of  the  United  States,  with  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  twelve  pas- 
sengers, viz.  .-—From  Amsterdam,  Germans  and  Swiss,  1896;  England,  Ire- 

10 


74  APPENDIX. 

land  and  Scotland,  281 ;  the  same,  via  Nova  Scotia  and  Newfoundland,  238  j 
France,  97.  Total,  2512."— Id.  p.  400. 

August  30. — "  The  two  weeks  ending  yesterday  gave  us  accounts  of  the 
arrival  of  twenty-one  vessels,  with  emigrants  from  Europe,  viz. : — From 
England,  Ireland  and  Scotland,  557  ;  Holland — Germans  and  Swiss,  365  ; 
France,  25.  Total  947." 

"  Of  these,  one  hundred  and  seventy-one  reached  the  United  States  via 
Halifax,  though  great  inducements  are  held  out  to  settlers  there.  As  for  in- 
stance, a  Dutch  ship  which  arrived  at  Philadelphia,  put  into  that  port  for  pro- 
visions, when  the  governor  offered  to  the  passengers  ten  thousand  acres  of 
land  gratis,  in  fee  simple,  and  farming  utensils,  if  they  would  stay  there ; 
but  they  refused  it.  Many  settlers,  as  they  are  called,  arrive  in  Canada, 
from  whence  hundreds  of  them  pass  up  the  river,  &c.,  and  cross  into  New 
York  and  Ohio.  It  seems  to  be  discovered  that  it  is  more  convenient  to  reach 
our  country  through  the  British  colonies  than  to  come  on  direct.  Facilities 
are  afforded  for  the  former  which  are  denied  to  the  latter." — Vol.  XIII.,  p.  16. 

September  6. — "  The  French  Emigrants. — By  a  respectable  Indian  agent, 
now  at  the  seat  of  government,  we  learn,  that  in  coming  up  the  Ohio  he  met 
upwards  of  a  hundred  Frenchmen,  at  different  times,  directing  their  course 
towards  the  new  settlement  on  the  Tombigbee." 

"  General  Count  Clausel  and  General  Lefebre  Desnouettes,  have  sailed 
from  Philadelphia  with  a  ship-load  of  passengers  bound  to  the  Mobile.  Mar- 
shal Grouchy,  the  two  Generals  Lallemand,  Generals  Vandamme,  Lakanal, 
Penniers,  Gamier  de  Saintes,  Count  Real,  &c.  are  at  the  head  of  this  enter- 
prise. All  these  distinguished  men  have  the  means  of  doing  much  good. 
Never  was  a  project  set  on  foot  under  better  auspices,  or  entered  into,  as  we 
learn,  with  more  ardor  and  fuller  determination  to  make  a  fair  experiment,  to 
show  what  Frenchmen  can  do.  'I  am  astonished,'  said  a  capitalist  of  Phila- 
delphia to  Generals  Clausel  and  Desnouettes,  '  that  such  men  as  you,  who  have 
money  at  command,  should  undertake  such  a  Don  Quixotte  expedition,  when 
by  taking  your  stand  in  the  exchange,  you  would  get  twenty  per  cent,  for  your 
money  without  trouble.'  '  We  have  been  accustomed  (replied  General  Clau- 
sel,) to  labor  for  the  glory  and  happiness  of  our  country,  not  to  prey  upon 
theirs  or  other  people's  necessities.'  A  reply  which  remarks  a  noble  mind. 
(Nat.  Int.)"  id.  p.  30. 

September  13. — '<  The  average  number  of  foreigners  emigrating  to  the  Uni- 
ted States  for  the  last  twenty  years  is  not  greater,  if  so  great,  as  ten  thousand 
a  year.  But,  from  the  result  of  the  facts  that  have  been  collected,  an  opin- 
ion may  be  entertained  that,  for  the  present  year,  they  may  possibly  amount 
to  thirty  thousand."  *  *  "  The  proportion  of  the  thirty  thousand  will  be 
about  as  follows  :  two  thousand  French  ;  twenty  thousand  English,  Irish  and 
Scotch;  eight  thousand  Germans  and  Swiss."  *  *—Id.pp.  35,  36. 

September  20.— "A  late  London  paper  says  :    { The  numerous  emigrations 


APPENDIX.  75 

from  Ireland  to  the  United  States  of  America,  are  much  to  be  regretted  ; 
there  are,  at  this  time,  three  ships  at  one  port  in  Ireland  about  to  sail.  Sure- 
ly it  would  have  been  better,  as  these  persons  are  determined  to  quit  their 
native  country,  to  have  given  them  their  passage  out  free  of  expense  to  Brit- 
ish North  America .'  " 

"  The  emigrations  are  more  numerous  from  England  than  from  Ireland, — 
the  latter  seems  now  to  be  the  least  distressed  country ;  not  that  Ireland  is 
distressed  less  than  she  was,  but  because  England  is  distressed  more."— Id. 
p.  59. 

October  25.—"  The  British  ship  Mary  Ann  has  arrived  at  Boston  in  fifty 
days  from  London,  with  two  hundred  and  four  passengers.  The  Mary  Ann 
was  bound  to  St.  John,  N.  B.,  but  the  passengers  not  wishing  to  go  there, 
rose  upon  the  crew,  and  brought  the  vessel  into  Boston." — Id.  p.  143. 

November  8. — "  Some  of  the  British  writers  begin  to  think  that  the  emi- 
gration of  one  hundred  thousand  persons  annually  would  be  advantageous, 
except  that  it  might  tend  to  strengthen  some  other  country.  New  British 
settlements  are  therefore  recommended."  *  * — Id.  p.  173. 

January  10,  1818.—"  European  emigrants  arrived  at  Philadelphia  during 
eiuht  mtm'i  -th  to  Dec.  31st,  1817.  From  France,  66; 

Italy,  22 ;  Germany,  53 ;  Ireland,  441 ;  Great  Britain,  1292  ;  English,  Irish  and 
Scotch,  via  British  possessions  in  America,  547  j  Holland,  4867. — Total, 

M.-t  if  not  all  of  the  persons  that  arrived  by  the  way  of  Holland  were 

ins.    The  Dutch  ship  April  has  arrived  in  the  Delaware  since  the  1st 

in>t  .  and  is  not  included  in  the  above  return,  with  five  hundred  and  fifty 

passengers.    Total  British  subjects  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty." 

Id.  p.  314. 

January  2-1.— -A  gentleman  at  New  York  has  favored  the  editor  of  the 
Weekly  Register,  with  the  following  list  of  emigrants  arriving  at  that  port, 
from  the  1st  of  January  to  the  31st  December,  1817,  both  inclusive,  and 
assures  us  that  its  correctness  may  be  relied  upon :— England,  Scotland  and 
Wales,  3131;  Ireland,  1703;  France,  674;  Germany  and  Holland,  252; 
Spain  and  Portugal,  64  ;  South  America,  40 ;  West  Indies,  464  ;  British  pos- 
sessions in  North  America,  1273,  East  Indies,  15 — Italy,  14—29;  Russia, 
Denmark  and  Sweden,  4.— Total,  7634."— Id.  p.  360. 

January  31. — "It  is  asserted  in  the  Delaware  Gazette,  that  of  about  eleven 
hundred  passengers,  who  embarked  on  board  the  ship  April,  Capt.  De  Groot, 
at  Amsterdam,  which  vessel  is  now  lying  at  Newcastle,  about  Jive  hundred 
died,  many  of  them  before  they  departed  from  Europe.  Such  as  were  una- 
ble to  advance  the  money  for  their  passage,  who  survive,  are  still  detained 
on  board  in  the  most  deplorable  condition,  several  of  whom  are  children, 
who  have  lost  their  parents  on  the  voyage." — Id.  p.  378. 

February  28.—"  Emigration  to  the  British  North  American  colonies,  it  is 


76  APPENDIX. 

stated,  will  not  be  encouraged  hereafter  by  the  government,  as  the  condition 
of  the  people  has  been  rendered  worse  by  the  change.  The  secret  cause, 
probably,  is  that  they  pass  into  the  United  States." — Id.  Vol.  XIV., pp.  12,  13. 

May  23. — "  Emigration  from  Europe  has  commenced  early  in  the  season. 
In  a  single  New  York  paper  we  notice  accounts  of  the  arrival  at  that  port  of 
five  or  six  vessels,  and  notices  of  the  sailing  of  a  number  from  British  ports 
— one  from  Glencastle  with  one  hundred  and  seventy-three,  and  another  from 
Greenock  with  eighty-four  passengers  Another  paper,  for  a  succeeding  day, 
mentions  the  arrival  of  six  vessels  from  London,  Liverpool  and  Newry,  with 
one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  English  and  eighty-eight  Irish  passengers." — Id. 
p.  223. 

May  30. — "We  have  received  accounts  of  the  arrival  of  from  eight  hun- 
dred to  one  thousand  emigrants  from  Europe,  chiefly  from  England,  during 
the  past  week." — Id.  p.  240. 

June  6. — "  The  number  of  emigrants,  an  account  of  whose  arrival  we  ob- 
served in  the  papers  of  last  week,  is  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred." 

"  A  New  York  paper  says  : — '  We  learn  that  a  gentleman  has  lately  arrived 
in  this  city  from  England,  whose  object  is  to  settle  in  the  Illinois  territory ; 
that  his  family  and  settlers  brought  over  with  him  amount  to  fifty-one  per- 
sons ;  that  he  has  furnished  himself  with  agricultural  instruments,  seeds  of 
various  kinds,  some  cows,  sheep  and  hogs,  for  breeding,  and  about  one  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds  sterling  in  money.  This  is  doing  business  to  a  great 
national  as  well  as  individual  profit ;  and  if  gentlemen  of  fortune  and  enter- 
prise will  emigrate  in  the  same  manner,  our  western  states  will  shortly  be  the 
most  flourishing  part  of  the  world.'  " — Id.  p.  256. 

June  27. — "  Three  hundred  and  eighty-two  emigrants,  mostly  laborers,  and 
many  of  them  having  much  money,  have  lately  left  Dumfries,  for  America. 
It  is  only  a  year  since  the  mania  of  emigration  spread  in  that  province." — Id. 
p.  305. 

July  11. — "A  Dutch  ship,  with  five  hundred  German  passengers,  from 
Amsterdam  for  Philadelphia,  which  appears  to  have  been  badly  provided  for 
the  voyage,  after  a  series  of  disasters,  has  reached  Bergen,  in  Norway,  hav- 
ing lost  one  hundred  of  her  passengers  on  the  voyage ;  the  rest  were  subsist- 
ing on  the  charity  of  the  Norwegian  government  and  citizens." — Id.  p.  344. 

August  1. — "  We  ventured  an  opinion  some  weeks  since  that  the  present 
emigration  to  the  United  States  was  about  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  persons 
per  day.  The  following  table,  though  necessarily  very  imperfect,  may  serve 
to  support  that  opinion.  That  ratio  of  emigration,  it  is  probable,  will  hold 
good  for  four  months  of  the  present  year.  For  the  rest  of  the  year  it  is  in- 
considerable, not  amounting,  perhaps,  to  twenty  persons  per  day,  except  such 
as  arrive  via  Canada,  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  without  being  re- 
ported." 

This  list  contains  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy  persons  for  two 


APPENDIX.  7  7 

weeks,  ending  July  31st,  from  newspapers  received  at  the  office  of  the  Reg- 
ister.— Id.  p.  380. 

August  8. — "Emigration  continues  at  the  probable  rate  of  two  hundred 
persons  per  day.  A  New  York  paper  of  Monday  last  announces  the  arrival 
at  that  port  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  persons  in  eight  vessels,  for  the 
preceding  forty-eight  hours.  The  current  is  steady.  On  Thursday,  a  Rus- 
sian ship  arrived  at  Baltimore,  with  seventy  passengers,  from  Ireland."— Id. 
p.  408. 

August  15. — "  Our  record  of  the  arrival  of  emigrants  from  Europe,  at  the 
ports  of  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  for  the  week  ending  yester- 
day, amounts  to  seven  hundred  and  thirty-one  persons.  The  « settlers '  that 
have  arrived  in  Canada  the  present  season  is  stated  at  six  thousand  and 
twenty-seven,  of  whom  it  is  probable  that  at  least  four  thousand  have  passed 
or  will  pass  into  our  territory.  It  is  said  that  five  hundred  families  from 
and  the  northern  ami  \v  ^  of  Scotland,  arrived  at  the  ports 

of  Greenock  and  Glasgow  on  the  1st  of  May,  for  the  purpose  of  emigrating 
to  America.  They  were  compelled  lo  form  an  encampment  upon  the  banks 
of  the  Clyde,  where  the  novelty  of  the  sight  attracted  many  spectators." 

"An  English  paper  states  that  twelve  hundred  persons  have  emigrated  this 
season  from.  Guernsey  to  America,  mostly  to  the  United  States.  Of  these  one 
thousand  are  natives  of  Guernsey  ;  a  great  number,  adds  the  paper,  when  it 
is  considered  that  the  whole  of  the  population  of  that  island  is  not  reckoned 
higher  than  nineteen  thousand." — Id.  p.  424. 

August  29. — "  The  amount  of  passengers  from  Europe,  reported  to  have 
arrived  at  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  for  the  last  week,  amounts 
to  more  than  a  thousand,— from  Ireland,  England,  Holland  and  France." 
Vol.  XV.,  p.  9. 

September  12.— ••  The  current  of  emigration,  from  the  British  dominions 
to  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  never  was  as  strong  as  it  is  now.  For 
the  week  ending  the  31st  of  August,  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty 
passengers,  '  nearly  the  whole  of  whom  were  emigrants  from  Europe,'  arrived 
at  the  single  port  of  New  York ;  and  for  the  subsequent  week  we  kept  an 
account  of  the  passengers  reported  in  the  newspapers,  (which  is  far  short  of 
the  number  that  arrived,)  and  found  them  to  amount  to  nearly  three  thousand, 
for  five  or  six  principal  ports,  and  the  aggregate  may  be  fairly  estimated  at  six 
thousand  for  the  two  weeks  preceding  the  tith  of  September.  We  designed 
lo  have  published  the  names  of  the  vessels,  with  the  places  they  arrived  at, 
with  their  respective  number  of  passengers,  as  we  have  done  on  several  occa- 
sions, but  thought  the  long  list  might  unnecessarily  occupy  a  page  of  our 
paper.  Of  the  six  thousand  that  arrived  in  the  two  weeks,  about  four  thous- 
and were  from  England,  one  thousand  from  Ireland,  and  the  rest  from  Scot- 
land, Holland  and  France,— about  one  hundred  only  from  the  latter.  The 
emigrants  from  England  that  we  have  seen,  (and  we  have  conversed  with 


78  APPENDIX. 

several,)  appear  to  be  of  that  class  of  people  which  lately  were  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  that  country, — respectable  farmers ;  driven  from  their  homes  by 
taxes  and  tithes,  yet  generally  before  they  were  too  much  reduced  to  make  in 
comfort  to  a  strange  land.  Some  of  them,  indeed,  appeared  to  have  consid- 
erable sums  of  money,  with  which  they  purposed  to  buy  and  improve  farms 
of  their  own,  and  a  number  were  making  their  way  to  the  great  settlement 
that  Mr.  Burbeck  is  founding  on  the  Wabash,  in  Indiana.  Many  of  them 
are  persons  of  intelligent  minds  ;  and,  in  general,  they  were  decently  appar- 
elled." 

"  As  we  are  of  those  who  are  always  ready  to  say  to  the  well-disposed  but 
oppressed  people  of  any  part  of  the  civilized  world,  'come  and  partake  with 
us  of  the  blessings  of  free  government,'  very  pleasurable  feelings  have  been 
excited  by  such  a  pressure  upon  our  shores, — with  such  an  accession  to  the 
wealth  and  strength  of  our  country.  When  we  hear  that  the  'Harmony  So- 
ciety,' as  it  is  called,  raised  six  thousand  bushels  of  wheat,  in  the  present 
year,  on  a  field  which,  three  years  ago,  was  covered  with  its  native  forests, 
we  cannot  refrain  from  calculating  the  auxiliary  force  of  such  a  body  of  such 
emigrants  in  causing  the  wilderness  to  smile,  and  making  our  woods  to 
resound  with  the  busy  hum  of  men.  The  emigration  of  the  present  year 
will  give  us  not  less  than  twenty -five  thousand  days  labor  ;  this  labor,  pass- 
ing through  all  its  stages  of  production,  cannot  be  estimated  at  less  than 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  per  day,  exclusive  of  the  value  of  the  articles 
consumed  by  the  laborers,  and  those  dependent  upon  them, — a  gross  value 
added  to  the  general  wealth  of  nearly  eight  millions  per  annum,  with  fifty  or 
sixty  thousand  persons  to  the  population  in  one  year.  What  a  source  of  rev- 
enue, if  the  country's  need  requires  it ;  how  great  a  force,  in  arms,  to  repel 
a  foe!  We  do  exult, — we  cannot  help  exulting,  at  the  great  strides  the 
republic  is  making  towards  a  power  to  command  the  respect  which  its  love  of 
peace  and  justice  entitles  it  to." — Id.  p.  33. 

September  19. — "  The  number  of  emigrants  at  present  arriving  are  believed 
to  be  nearly  four  hundred  per  day."— Id.  p.  63. 

October  17. — "  Many  emigrants  from  Europe  are  still  arriving  in  the  Uni- 
ted States, — some  direct,  others  by  way  of  Nova  Scotia,  Canada,  &c." — Id. 
p.  125. 

December  12.— "New  York,  Nov.  24  :  The  French  brig  Minerva  was  to 
sail  from  Havre  about  the  12th  Oct.  for  Mobile,  with  about  fifty  passengers, 
most  of  them  mechanics,  who  design  to  settle  in  that  promising  place."— Id. 
p.  269. 

May  29, 1819.— "A  vessel  has  arrived  at  New  York  from  Havre  in  France, 
bringing  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  passengers,  principally  English  mechan- 
ics, who  are  not  permitted  to  emigrate  directly  from  England  to  the  United 
States ;  five  hundred  more  were  expected  at  Havre  for  the  same  destination." 

"  The  arrival  of  passengers  from  Europe  gives  us  about  the  amount  of 


APPENDIX.  79 

fifteen  or  eighteen  hundred  a  week.  No  less  than  six  hundred  Irish  were  at 
St.  Andrews,  and  are  coming  in  small  parties  to  different  parts  of  the  United 
States.  A  great  number  is  looked  for."—  Vol.  XVI.,  p.  239. 

June  4. — *  *  "  It  was  explicitly  stated  to  you,"  says  J.  Q.  Adams,  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Furstenwaerther,  a  German,  who  had  intimated  a  disposition  to 
become  an  American  citizen,  "  and  your  report  has  taken  just  notice  of  the 
statement,  that  the  government  of  the  United  Slates  has  never  adopted  any 
measure  to  encourage  or  invite  emigrants  from  any  part  of  Europe.  It  has 
never  held  out  any  incitements  to  induce  the  subjects  of  any  other  sovereign 
to  abandon  their  own  country  to  become  inhabitants  of  this.  From  motives 
of  humanity,  it  has  occasionally  furnished  facilities  to  emigrants  who,  hav- 
ing arrived  here  with  views  of  forming  selllements,  have  specially  needed 
such  assistance  to  carry  them  into  effect.  Neither  the  general  government 
of  the  Union,  nor  those  of  individual  states,  are  ignorant  or  unobservant  of 
the  additional  strength  and  wealth  which  accrue  to  the  nation  by  the  acces- 
sion of  a  mass  of  healthy,  in<.lii>tnous  and  frugal  laborers,  nor  are  they  in 
any  manner  in>ensible  to  the  great  benefits  which  this  country  has  derived, 
and  continues  to  derive,  from  the  influx  of  such  adoptive  children  from  Germa- 
ny. But  there  is  one  principle  which  pervades  all  the  institutions  of  this  coun- 
try, and  which  must  always  operate  as  an  obstacle  to  the  granting  of  favors  to 
new  comers.  This  is  a  land,  not  of  privileges,  but  of  equal  rights.  Privileges 
are  granted  by  European  sovereigns  to  particular  classes  of  individuals,  for 
-es  of  general  policy  ;  but  the  general  impression  here  is  that  privileges 
granted  to  one  denomination  of  people,  can  seldom  be  discriminated  from 
the  rights  of  others.  Emigrants  from  Germany,  therefore,  or 
from  elsewhere,  coming  here,  are  not  to  expect  favors  from  the  government. 
They  are  to  expect,  if  they  choose  to  become  citizens,  equal  rights  with  those 
of  the  natives  of  the  country.  They  are  to  expect,  if  affluent,  to  possess  the 
means  to  make  their  property  productive,  with  moderation  and  with  safety  ; 
if  indigent,  but  industrious,  and  honest,  and  frugal,  the  means  of  obtaining 
an  easy  and  comfortable  subsistence  for  themselves  and  families.  They 
come  to  a  life  of  independence  and  to  a  life  of  labor ;  and  if  they  cannot 
accommodate  themselves  to  the  character,  moral,  political  and  physical,  of 
this  country,  with  all  its  compensating  balances  of  good  and  evil,  the  Atlantic 
is  always  open  to  them  to  return  to  the  land  of  their  nativity  and  their  fathers. 
To  one  thing  they  must  make  up  their  minds,  or  they  will  be  disappointed  in 
every  expectation  as  Americans.  They  must  cast  off  the  European  skin, 
never  to  resume  it.  They  must  look  forward  to  their  posterity  rather  than 
backward  to  their  ancestors ;  they  must  be  sure  that  whatever  their  own  feel- 
ings may  be,  those  of  their  children  will  cling  to  the  prejudices  of  this  coun- 
try." *  * 

"  We  understand  perfectly,  that  of  the  multitude  of  foreigners  who  yearly 
flock  to  our  shores  to  take  up  here  their  abode,  none  come  from  affection  or 


80  APPENDIX. 

regard  to  a  land  to  which  they  are  total  strangers,  and  with  the  very  language 
of  which  those  of  them  who  are  Germans,  are  generally  unacquainted.  "We 
know  that  they  come  with  views,  not  to  our  benefit,  but  to  their  own, — 
not  to  promote  our  welfare,  but  to  better  their  own  condition.  We  expect, 
therefore,  very  few,  if  any,  transplanted  countrymen,  from  classes  of  people 
who  enjoy  happiness,  ease,  or  even  comfort,  in  their  native  climes.  The 
happy  and  contented  remain  at  home  ;  and  it  requires  an  impulse  at  least  as 
keen  as  that  of  urgent  want,  to  drive  a  man  from  the  seat  of  his  nativity 
and  the  land  of  his  fathers'  sepulchres.  Of  the  very  few  emigrants  of  more 
fortunate  classes,  who  ever  make  the  attempt  of  settling  in  this  country,  a 
principal  proportion  sicken  at  the  strangeness  of  our  manners,  and  after  a 
residence  more  or  less  protracted,  return  to  the  countries  whence  they  came. 
There  are,  doubtless,  exceptions,  and  among  the  most  opulent  and  the  most 
distinguished  of  our  citizens,  we  are  happy  to  number  individuals  who  might 
have  enjoyed  or  acquired  wealth  and  consideration  without  resorting  to  a  new 
country  and  another  hemisphere.  We  should  take  great  satisfaction  in  find- 
ing you  included  in  this  number,  if  it  shouid  suit  your  own  inclinations,  and 
the  prospects  of  your  future  life,  upon  your  calculations  of  your  own  inter- 
ests. I  regret  that  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  add  the  inducement  which  you 
might  perceive  in  the  situation  of  an  officer  under  government.  All  the 
places  in  the  department  to  which  I  belong,  allowed  by  the  laws,  are  filled, 
nor  is  there  a  prospect  of  an  early  vacancy  in  any  of  them.  Whenever  such 
vacancies  occur,  the  application  of  natives  of  the  country  to  fill  them,  are  far 
more  numerous  than  the  offices,  and  the  recommendations  in  behalf  of  the 
candidates  so  strong  and  so  earnest,  that  it  would  seldom  be  possible,  if  it 
would  ever  be  just,  to  give  a  preference  over  them  to  foreginers.  Although, 
therefore,  it  would  give  me  sincere  pleasure  to  consider  you  as  one  of  our 
future  and  permanent  fellow  citizens,  I  should  not  do  either  an  act  of  kind- 
ness or  of  justice  to  you,  in  dissuading  you  from  the  offers  of  employment 
and  of  honorable  services,  to  which  you  are  called  in  your  native  coun- 
try." *  *_/d.  Vol.  XVIII.,pp.  157,  158,  April  29,  1820. 

June  5. — "The  manufacturing  districts  are  dreadfully  distressed.  At  Lei- 
cester,  within  ten  days,  it  is  said  that  five  thousand  persons  were  thrown  out 
of  employ,  though  the  price  of  cotton  was  expected  to  decline  further !  There 
have  been  some  heavy  failures." 

"  The  London  newspapers  advertise  no  less  than  fifteen  ships  to  take  out 
passengers  to  America,  whose  tonnage  amount  to  eight  thousand  two  hun- 
dred tons  ;  and  the  Belfast  papers  nearly  as  many  more.  By  the  returns  of 
the  latter  port,  it  appears  that  about  eleven  thousand  persons  emigrated  to 
America  from  thence  last  season,  amongst  whom  were  upwards  of  seven 
hundred  families." 

"  London,  April  10  :  Numerous  emigrations  are  now  taking  place  from 
Yorkshire,  chiefly  for  the  United  States,  but  a  considerable  number  have  also 


APPENDIX.  81 

recently  gone  to  South  America,  and  many  others  are  preparing  to  follow 
them.  The  mischief  of  these  expatriations  is  increased  by  the  emigrations 
alluded  to  being  noUcomposed  merely  of  poor  distressed  artisans,  who  are  in 
quest  of  food  and  employment,  but  chiefly  of  persons  possessed  of  property, 
sufficient  to  render  them  comfortable  in  their  own  country." — Id.  Vol.  XVI., 
p.  255. 

June  12. — "  The  emigration  from  England  is  spoken  of  as  being  greater 
this  season  than  at  any  former  period." 

"  The  following  are  the  number  of  families  and  individuals  who  have  emi- 
grated from  the  port  of  Belfast  to  America,  during  the  last  three  years.  Those 
who  landed  in  the  British  settlements  are  included : 

2143  individuals— 239  families— to  Jan.  5,  1817. 
2811          "  314        "  1818. 

5601  727        "  1819."— Id.  p.  269. 

June  19.— "About  five  hundred  Englishmen  are  said  to  be  at  Havre  de 
Grace,  to  embark  for  the  United  States.  The  rage  for  emigration  is  extrava- 
gant, and  those  subject  to  its  imluence  are  very  generally  manufacturers  and 
uiics,  or  of  other  productive  classes.  At  present,  however,  we  are 
quite  as  willing  that  they  should  remain  where  they  are.  American  labor  is 
not  appreciated  at  home."— Id.  p.  286. 

July  3. — "About  two  thousand  emigrants,  chiefly  Irish,  had  arrived  at  St. 
John's,  N.  B.,  in  ten  days  previous  to  the  17th  ult.  The  destination  of  the 
most  of  them  is  the  United  States,  into  which  they  are  daily  arriving  by 
schooner  loads."— Id.  p.  319. 

July  10. — "  From  considerable  observation  of  the  arrival  of  vessels  from 
foreign  ports,  we  are  of  opinion,  that  the  present  rate  of  emigration  to  the 
United  States,  is  not  less  than  four  hundred  persons  per  day.  The  greater  part 
are  English,  reaching  us  via  French  ports,  &c. ;  the  rest  are  chiefly  Irish 
and  German." — Id.  p.  336. 

July  17. — "  We  kept  a  list  of  the  vessels  that  arrived  in  the  United  States, 
with  European  passengers,  an  account  of  whose  arrival  reached  us  through 
the  newspapers  received  for  the  week  ending  yesterday  morning;  the  aggre- 
gate is  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-five,  of  whom  about  four 
hundred  reached  our  country  via  Halifax  and  St.  John's."— Id.  p.  346. 

July  24. — "It  is  announced  in  a  New  York  paper,  that  Mr.  Buchanan,  the 
British  consul  there,  is  making  arrangements  for  the  location,  in  Canada,  of 
numerous  British  subjects  who  had  emigrated  to  the  United  States.  This 
paragraph  may  be  well  <  understood '  by  the  fact,  that  on  the  20th  inst.  one 
hundred  and  forty-five  emigrants  arrived  at  Philadelphia  alone,  by  way  of 
the  British  possessions  in  America ;  one  hundred  also  arrived  at  Alexandria, 
and  eighty-five  at  New  York,  on  the  19th,  from  Moose  Island  and  Halifax." 
Id.  p.  368. 

August  7.—"  We  have  not  this  week  listed  the  vessels  which  arrived  in 

11 


82  APPENDIX. 

the  United  States  with  foreign  passengers,  but  suppose  the  amount  of  emi- 
grants to  have  been  nearly  fifteen  hundred,  a  considerable  number  of  whom 
were  Germans." — Id.  p.  400. 

September  18.— "  The  tide  of  emigration  still  sets  to  the  United  States. 
Never  before,  perhaps,  except  in  the  last  year,  did  so  many  persons  from 
Europe  reach  our  shores  to  take  up  their  abode  with  us,  at  this  advanced 
state  of  the  season,  as  are  now  arriving.  We  regret  that  it  is  so.  Hundreds, 
perhaps,  we  might  say  thousands  of  them,  will  be  incumbrances  on  us  dur- 
ing the  ensuing  winter ;  for  many  tens  of  thousands  of  our  own  people, 
accustomed  to  sustain  themselves  by  their  own  labor,  will  be  out  of  employ- 
ment, unless  some  extraordinary  event  shall  take  place." 

"  We  have  always  until  just  now  greeted  the  stranger  on  his  arrival  here 
with  pleasure.  There  was  room  enough  for  all  that  would  come,  and  indus- 
try was  a  sure  road  to  a  comfortable  living,  if  not  to  independence  and 
wealth.  We  were  glad  of  the  addition  which  they  made  to  our  population, 
and  of  the  impulse  which  they  gave  to  the  capacity  of  production,  thus 
advancing  our  country  to  its  weight  of  power  and  extent  of  resources  which 
the  patriot  delights  to  anticipate,  but  which  also  every  one  wishes  to  see  real- 
ized. Now,  however,  our  population  in  most  of  the  maratime  districts,  and 
in  some  parts  of  the  interior  also,  seems  to  think — there  are  too  many  mouths 
to  consume  what  the  hands  can  find  business  to  do  ;  and  that  hitherto  sure 
refuge  of  the  industrious  foreign  immigrant, — the  western  country, — is  over- 
stocked by  the  domestic  emigration.  Certainly,  the  present  system  cannot 
last  long,  and  the  time  must  come  when  home  industry  will  be  encouraged 
and  protected,  in  all  its  branches.  If  this  were  the  case,  all  would  be  busy, 
money  would  circulate  freely,  and  happiness  abound." 

"  It  appears  that  a  good  many  persons  who  recently  arrived  from  England, 
being  disappointed  in  their  prospects  of  employment,  are  on  their  return 
home.  We  have  thought  that  some  such  were  occasionally  re-shipped,  under 
sanction  and  perhaps  at  the  cost  of  the  British  government,  that  they  might 
check  emigration.  But  this  cannot  be  suspected  now.  The  poor  people  are 
truly  alarmed  at  the  prostration  of  things  presented  to  them,  and  will  rather 
depend  upon  the  resources  they  have  been  accustomed  to,  than  suffer  poverty 
in  a  land  of  strangers.  Still  those  who  have  a  little  money  may  certainly  do 
better  with  it  here  than  at  home." 

"  It  is  reported,  that  to  relieve  themselves  of  the  support  of  their  paupers, 
many  such  will  be  sent  to  the  United  States  by  the  church-wardens,  &c.  of 
England  !  It  will  therefore  become  the  state  authorities  to  be  careful  to  take 
the  proper  securities  of  those  who  bring  passengers,  that  they  will  not  become 
chargeable  on  the  public." 

"  The  number  of  emigrants  from  Europe,  (as  reported  in  the  newspapers,) 
who  reached  the  United  States  for  two  weeks,  ending  on  Friday,  the  3d  of 
September,  1819,  was  three  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight." 


APPENDIX.  83 

"  When  we  consider  that  the  passengers  arriving  at  many  small  ports  are 
not  reported  at  all,  and  the  moral  certainty  that  we  have  overlooked  some 
who  were  reported  even  in  the  newspapers  received  at  our  office,  it  may  be 
fairly  presumed  that  the  real  number  of  those  who  arrived  cannot  be  less 
than  four  thousand  for  these  two  weeks  j  and  from  what  we  have  learnt,  it  is 
also  probable  that  one  thousand  more  may  have  passed  into  our  country  from 
Canada,  in  the  course  of  the  last  month.  We  observe  that  the  Canadian  pa- 
pers are  very  zealous  to  prevent  it,  and  hear  of  many  proceeding  to  the  west- 
ern states." 

"The  returns  for  the  last  two  weeks  would  probably  have  shown  an 
amount  of  about  fifteen  hundred  per  week ;  five  hundred  and  sixty-eight 
arrived  at  Philadelphia  in  one  day — on  Sunday  last — many  of  whom  were  in 
one  vessel  from  Antwerp." 

"  The  New  York  Gazette  says  : — '  We  know  a  gentleman  who  has  made  a 
calculation,  grounded  upon  the  emigration  of  the  present  year,  showing  that 
in  the  course  of  five  years  the  number  of  emigrants  to  this  country  will 
amount  to  half  a  million.  New  York  is  calculated  to  receive  one  sixth  of  the 
number,  as  it  has  done  for  the  last  year.  The  numerous  emigrations,  via  the 
Canadas  and  Nova  Scotia,  are  not  taken  into  this  calculation.'  " 

"  This  is  a  serious  subject,  and  will  naturally  excite  the  attention  of  gov- 
ernment.1' 

"This  calculation,  we  apprehend,  is  much  exaggerated.  It  must  be  recol- 
lected, that  very  few  emigrants  arrive  before  the  month  of  May,  and  less 
after  that  of  September.  Admit  that  in  the  whole  of  these  five  months  the 
rate  should  continue  at  two  thousand  per  week,  the  amount  would  be  only 
forty  thousand  per  annum.  And  this,  we  feel  satisfied,  is  a  greater  number 
than  ever  arrived  in  the  United  States  in  any  one  year,  even  in  or  for  the 
present,  though  the  emigration  has  been  so  very  heavy.  But  how  it  should 
'naturally  excite  the  attention  of  government'  we  cannot  tell,  unless  the 
British  government  is  meant."— Id.  Vol.  XVII.,  p.  36. 

September  25.—"  The  number  of  emigrants  still  arriving  is  enormous.  In 
the  last  week,  according  to  the  newspapers  received  at  this  office,  not  less 
than  twenty-five  hundred,  perhaps  three  thousand,  arrived,  chiefly  at  New 
York,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore.  Nearly  four  hundred  arrived  at  the  latter 
on  Saturday  last. — Id.  p.  63. 

October  16. — "  Quebec,  Sept.  27.— Of  the  twelve  thousand  British  emi- 
grants who  have  arrived  at  the  port  of  Quebec  this  season,  we  are  persuaded 
that  more  than  one  half  have  found  their  way  into  the  United  States.  The 
St.  Lawrence  has  already  become  the  channel  of  communication  for  those 
emigrants  who  are  destined  for  the  western  states,  as  it  will  at  a  future  day 
become  one  of  the  main  channels  of  their  trade.  We  regret  that  greater 
facilities  are  not  given  to  British  emigrants  to  settle  in  this  province.  In 
Upper  Canada,  we  believe,  that  great  improvements  in  this  respect  have 
been  made  by  Sir  Perigrine  Maitland." 


84  APPENDIX. 

"  There  a  foundation  of  British  inhabitants  has  been  laid.  If  they  thrive, 
they  will  soon  attract  more.  In  this  province  little  or  nothing  has  been  done." 
Id.  p.  111. 

"  The  following  seductive  advertisement  is  recorded  as  a  specimen  of  the 
manner  in  which  many  poor  persons  are  induced  to  leave  their  home  in  En- 
gland and  Ireland :" 

1  For  St.  Andrews,  in  the  river  St.  John's,  that  divides  the  United  States  of 
America  from  the  British  possessions. — The  new,  fast  sailing  cutter  (but  twelve 
months  built,)  Commercial  Packet,  William  Andejson,  master,  now  lying  at 
the  quay  of  Galway,  and  will  sail  positively  the  22d  of  June,  wind  and 
weather  permitting.' 

'  Persons  wishing  to  go  to  the  United  States,  or  any  part  of  the  western 
country  thereof,  have  a  cheap  and  easy  opportunity  by  inland  water  convey- 
ance on  arrival.  Emigrants  will  find  immediate  employment  on  landing ; 
laborers  from  five  to  eight  shillings  per  day,  and  tradesmen  from  twelve  to 
twenty  shillings  per  day,  and  provisions  remarkably  cheap.  As  this  may  be 
the  only  opportunity  that  may  offer  from  hence  this  season,  those  inclined  to 
proceed  should  make  immediate  application  to  E.  Evans,  Back  street,  or  to 
the  master  on  board,  at  the  dock.' 

'  Terms  five  guineas,  the  ship  to  find  nothing  but  water  and  fuel ;  children 
half  price.  Tradesmen  will  not  be  prevented  from  going  in  this  vessel. 
Galway,  June  14,  1819.'— Id.  p.  112. 

July  29,  1820. — "  Passengers. — It  appears  by  the  official  returns  from  the 
mayor's  office  that,  from  December,  1818,  to  December,  1819,  thirty-five 
thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty  passengers  arrived  at  this  port  [New  York.] 
This  will  give  an  idea  of  the  great  intercourse  which  is  had  with  this  city  j 
yet  it  also  appears  that,  out  of  this  number,  sixteen  thousand  six  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  were  Americans,  leaving  eighteen  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  thirty-two  foreigners,  which,  of  itself,  is  an  important  amount.  There  is 
something  also  to  consider  in  the  national  character  of  these  emigrants ; 
seven  thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty-nine  were  English,  and  six  thousand 
and  sixty-seven  were  Irish.  The  proportion  of  Irish  to  English  emigrants, 
has  been  heretofore  in  favor  of  the  Irish ;  but  this  year  the  English  take  the 
lead.  It  is  certain  that  the  Irish  have  a  more  sincere  attachment  to  this 
country  than  the  English ;  their  associations  and  feelings,  and  the  success  of 
many  of  their  countrymen,  have  given  a  great  spur  to  emigration  ;  added  to 
this,  their  wants  and  enterprise  are  greater  than  those  of  the  English;  yet 
we  have  in  this  excess  of  English  emigration,  a  very  strong  proof  of  the 
misery  of  the  times,  and  the  extremes  to  which  they  are  reduced, — extremes 
which  the  Irish  have  scarcely  arrived  at.  If  it  is  said  that  many  of  these 
were  bound  to  Canada,  to  settle  on  the  crown  lands,  the  reply  will  be,  that 
the  expense  of  transportation  from  New  York  to  Canada  would  exceed  the 
value  of  their  possessions,  and  emigrants  bound  to  Canada  generally  take 


APPENDIX.  85 

passage  for  Quebec.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  contended  that  many  have 
returned  to  Europe,  we  are  satisfied  that  the  number  is  very  trifling,  and 
were  not  willing  to  work.  Of  Scotch  there  were  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  forty-two.  This  is  a  class  of  emigrants  who  are  not  idle  in  any  part 
of  the  world.  *  *— [Nat.  Advocate,]"  Id.  Vol.  XVIIL,  pp.  388,  389. 

November  11. — "The  following  is  an  estimate  of  emigration  in  the  first 
eight  months  of  the  present  year,  from  Ireland,  Scotland,  England  and 
Wales:— To  Canada,  about  10,000;  North  America,  U.  S.,  6000;  South 
America,  4000  ;  South  Africa,  6000 ;  New  Holland  and  Van  Diemun's  Land, 
2500;  East  Indies,  all  ports  and  all  sorts,  3500;  Sailors  to  foreign  employ, 
2000;  fixed  residents  to  Flanders,  France  and  Italy,  1500;  Russia,  350. 
Total,  35,850."— Id.  Vol.  XIX.,  p.  173. 

April  20,  1822. — "  The  Democratic  Press  says :  From  official  returns 
ordered  to  be  printed  by  the  House  of  Commons,  we  learn  that  the  whole 
number  of  passengers  who  embarked  from  Ireland  for  the  United  States, 
from  the  year  1812  to  1821,  both  years  inclusive,  was  30,653  ;  from  England, 
33,608  ;  Scotland,  4727.— Total,  68,988." 

"Also  there  embarked  for  the  British  dominions  in  North  America,  from 
In-hind,  47,223;  England,  23,783;  Scotland.  l'.'."71.  ii.akinga  total  of  90,977." 
Total,  159,960. 

"  It  may  be  added,  that  a  major  part  of  those  who  embarked  for  the  'Brit- 
ish possessions  in  North  America,'  proceeded  almost  direct  to  the  United 
States."— Id.  Vol.  XXII.tpp.  115,  llt>. 

August  3. — "  It  would  appear  that  many  more  persons  have  arrived  in  the 
United  States  during  the  present  season,  than  in  the  last.  A  good  number 
reach  New  York  and  other  ports  direct,  but  far  the  greater  part  arrive  via 
New  Brunswick  and  Canada.  Those  who  take  passages  for  the  former  come 
over  to  Eastport,  &c.,  where  they  obtain  vessels,  and  re-ship  themselves  to 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Ace.  Many  that  arrive  in  Canada  pass 
up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Lake  Ontario,  and  into  the  state  of  New  York,  or 
proceed  further  westward.  A  party  of  about  thirty  lately  arrived  at  Buffalo, 
to  join  the  colony  of  Mr.  Burbeck,  in  Illinois.  They  appeared  to  be  substan- 
tial people,  for  among  their  property  were  cattle,  hogs,  geese,  Ace.  of  the  most 
approved  kinds,  which  they  had  brought  with  them  from  England." — Id. p.  354. 

Soon  after  the  insurrection  in  Canada  in  1837,  the  Earl  of  Durham  was 
appointed  Governor-General  of  the  British  Provinces  in  North  America,  in 
pursuance  of  which  appointment  he  made  an  elaborate  "  Report  on  the 
Affairs  of  British  North  America,"  which  was  ordered  to  be  printed  by  the 
House  of  Commons,  February  llth,  1839.  The  following  extracts,  taken 
from  that  report,  will  show  some  of  the  reasons  why  many  of  the  emigrants 
from  the  United  Kingdom,  instead  of  settling  in  Ihose  provinces,  have  come 
to  the  United  States. 


86  APPENDIX. 

*  *  "  The  emigrants  who  have  settled  in  the  country  [Upper  Canada] 
within  the  last  ten  years,  are  supposed  to  comprise  half  the  population. 
They  complain  that  while  the  Canadians  are  desirous  of  having  British  capi- 
tal and  labor  brought  into  the  colony,  by  means  of  which  their  fields  may  be 
cultivated,  and  the  value  of  their  unsettled  possessions  increased,  they  refuse 
to  make  the  colony  really  attractive  to  British  skill  and  British  capitalists. 
They  say  that  an  Englishman  emigrating  to  Upper  Canada,  is  practically  as 
much  an  alien  in  that  British  colony  as  he  would  be  if  he  were  to  emigrate 
to  the  United  States.  He  may  equally  purchase  and  hold  lands  or  invest  his 
capital  in  trade  in  one  country  as  in  the  other,  and  he  may  in  either  exercise 
any  mechanical  avocation,  and  perform  any  species  of  manual  labor.  This, 
however,  is  the  extent  of  his  privileges ;  his  English  qualifications  avail  him 
little  or  nothing..  He  cannot,  if  a  surgeon,  licensed  to  act  in  England,  prac- 
tise without  the  license  of  a  Board  of  Examiners  in  the  province.  If  an 
attorney,  he  has  to  submit  to  an  apprenticeship  of  five  years  before  he  is 
allowed  to  practise.  If  a  barrister,  he  is  excluded  from  the  profitable  part  of 
his  profession,  and  though  allowed  to  practise  at  the  bar,  the  permission  thus 
accorded  to  him  is  practically  of  no  use  in  a  country  where,  as  nine  attornies 
out  of  ten  are  barristers  also,  there  can  be  no  business  for  a  mere  barrister. 
Thus,  a  person  who  has  been  admitted  to  the  English  bar,  is  compelled  to 
serve  an  apprenticeship  of  three  years  to  a  provincial  lawyer." 

"  By  an  act  passed  last  session,  difficulties  are  thrown  in  the  way  of  the 
employment  of  capital  in  banking,  which  have  a  tendency  to  preserve  the 
monopoly  possessed  by  the  chartered  banks  of  the  colony,  in  which  the  Cana- 
dian party  are  supreme,  and  the  influence  of  which  is  said  to  be  employed 
directly  as  an  instrument  for  upholding  the  political  supremacy  of  the  party. 
Under  the  system,  also,  of  selling  land  pursued  by  the  government,  an  indi- 
vidual does  not  procure  a  patent  for  his  land  until  he  has  paid  the  whole  of 
the  purchase-money,  a  period  of  from  four  to  ten  years,  according  as  his  pur- 
chase is  a  crown  or  clergy  lot ;  and  until  the  patent  issues,  he  has  no  right  to 
vote.  In  some  of  the  new  states  of  America,  on  the  contrary,  especially  in 
Illinois,  an  individual  may  practise  as  a  surgeon  or  lawyer  almost  immedi- 
ately on  his  arrival  in  the  country,  and  he  has  every  right  of  citizenship  after 
a  residence  of  six  months  in  the  state.  An  Englishman  is,  therefore,  in 
effect  less  an  alien  in  a  foreign  country  than  in  one  which  forms  a  part  of  the 
British  empire.  Such  are  the  superior  advantages  of  the  United  States  at 
present,  that  nothing  but  the  feeling,  that  in  the  one  country  he  is  among  a 
more  kindred  people,  under  the  same  laws,  and  in  a  society  whose  habits  and 
sentiments  are  similar  to  those  to  which  he  has  been  accustomed,  can  induce 
an  Englishman  to  settle  in  Canada,  in  preference  to  the  states  ;  and  if,  in  the 
former,  he  is  deprived  of  rights  which  he  obtains  in  the  latter,  though  a  for- 
eigner, it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he  should,  in  many  cases,  give  the 
preference  to  the  land  in  which  he  is  treated  most  as  a  citizen.  It  is  very 


APPENDIX.  87 

possible  that  there  are  but  few  cases  in  which  the  departure  of  an  English- 
man from  Upper  Canada  to  the  states  can  be  traced  directly  to  any  of  these 
circumstances  in  particular ;  yet  the  state  of  society  and  of  feeling  which 
they  have  engendered,  has  been  among  the  main  causes  of  the  great  extent 
of  re-emigration  to  the  new  states  of  the  Union.  It  operates,  too,  still  more 
to  deter  emigration  from  England  to  the  provinces,  and  thus  both  to  retard 
the  advance  of  the  colony,  and  to  deprive  the  mother  country  of  one  of  the 
principal  advantages  on  account  of  which  the  existence  of  colonies  is  desira- 
ble— the  field  which  they  afford  for  the  employment  of  her  surplus  popula- 
tion and  wealth.  The  native  Canadians,  however,  to  whatever  political  party 
they  may  belong,  appear  to  be  unanimous  in  the  wish  to  preserve  these  ex- 
privileges."  *  *—p.  61. 

"  But  as  in  Upper  Canada,  under  a  law  passed  immediately  after  the  last 
war  with  the  states,  American  citizens  are  forbidden  to  hold  land,  it  is  of  the 
more  consequence  that  the  country  should  be  made  as  attractive  as  possible 
to  the  emigrating  middle  classes  of  Great  Britain,  the  only  class  from  which 
an  accession  of  capital,  to  be  invested  in  the  purchase  or  improvement  of 
lands,  can  be  hoped  for."  *  *— p.  62. 

"  Under  such  circumstances  there  is  little  stimulus  to  industry  or  enter- 
prise, ami  ih.-ir  effect  is  aggravated  by  the  striking  contrast  presented  by 
such  of  the  United  States  as  border  upon  this  province,  and  where  all  is 
activity  and  progress ."  *  * — p.  66. 

"It  is  a  singular  and  melancholy  feature  in  the  condition  of  these  prov- 
inces, [New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia  and  Prince  Edward's  Island,]  that  the 
ices  rendered  of  so  little  avail  to  the  population  of  Great  Britain,  are 
turned  to  better  account  by  the  enterprising  inhabitants  of  the  United  States. 
While  the  emigration  from  the  provinces  is  large  and  constant,  the  adventur- 
ous larmers  of  New  England  cross  the  frontier,  and  occupy  the  best  farming 
lands.  Their  fishermen  enter  our  bays  and  rivers,  and  in  some  cases  mo- 
nopolize the  occupations  of  our  own  unemployed  countrymen  ;  and  a  great 
portion  of  the  trade  of  the  St.  John's  is  in  their  hands.  Not  only  do  the  citi- 
zens of  a  foreign  nation  do  this,  but  they  do  it  with  British  capital.  Major 
Head  states,  '  that  an  American  merchant  acknowledged  to  him,  that  the 
capital  with  which  his  countrymen  carried  on  their  enterprises  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  St.  John's,  was  chiefly  supplied  by  Great  Britain  ;'  and  he  adds, 
as  a  fact  within  his  own  knowledge,  '  that  wealthy  capitalists  at  Halifax, 
desirous  of  an  investment  for  their  money,  preferred  lending  it  in  the  United 
States,  to  applying  it  to  speculation  in  New  Brunswick,  or  to  lending  it  to 
their  own  countrymen  in  that  province.'  " 

"  I  regret  to  say,  that  Major  Head  also  gives  the  same  account  respecting 
the  difference  between  the  aspect  of  things  in  these  provinces  and  the  border- 
ing state  of  Maine.  On  the  other  side  of  the  line,  good  roads,  good  schools, 
and  thriving  farms,  afford  a  mortifying  contrast  to  the  condition  in  which  a 


88  APPENDIX. 

British  subject  finds  the  neighboring  possessions  of  the  British  crown."— p.  71. 

"In  the  United  States,  ever  since  the  year  1796,  the  disposal  of  public 
land,  not  already  appropriated  to  particular  states,  has  been  strictly  regulated 
by  a  law  of  Congress  ;  not  by  different  laws  for  the  various  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, but  by  one  law  for  the  whole  of  the  public  lands,  and  a  law  which  we 
may  judge  to  have  been  conducive  to  the  prosperity  of  the  people,  both  from 
its  obvious  good  effects,  and  from  its  almost  unquestioned  continuance  for  so 
many  years.  In  the  British  North  American  colonies,  with  one  partial  ex- 
ception, there  never  has  been,  until  quite  recently,  any  law  on  the  subject." 
*  #—pp.  73,  74. 

"  The  system  of  the  United  States  appears  to  combine  all  the  chief  requi- 
sites of  the  greatest  efficiency.  It  is  uniform  throughout  the  vast  federation  j 
it  is  unchangeable  save  by  Congress,  and  has  never  been  materially  altered  ; 
it  renders  the  acquisition  of  new  land  easy,  and  yet,  by  means  of  a  price, 
restricts  appropriation  to  the  actual  wants  of  the  settler  ;  it  is  so  simple  as  to 
be  readily  understood ;  it  provides  for  accurate  surveys  and  against  needless 
delays  ;  it  gives  an  instant  and  secure  title ;  and  it  admits  of  no  favoritism, 
but  distributes  the  public  property  amongst  all  classes  and  persons  upon  pre- 
cisely equal  terms.  That  system  has  promoted  an  amount  of  immigration 
and  settlement,  of  which  the  history  of  the  world  affords  no  other  example  ; 
and  it  has  produced  to  the  United  States  a  revenue  which  has  averaged  about 
half  a  million  sterling  per  annum,  and  has  amounted  in  one  twelvemonth  to 
above  four  millions  sterling,  or  more  than  the  whole  expenditure  of  the  fede- 
ral government." 

"  In  the  North  American  colonies  there  never  has  been  any  system.  Many 
different  methods  have  been  practised,  and  this  not  only  in  the  different  colo- 
nies, but  in  every  colony  at  different  times,  arid  within  the  same  colony  at 
the  same  time.  The  greatest  diversity  and  most  frequent  alteration  would 
almost  seem  to  have  been  the  objects  in  view.  In  only  one  respect  has  there 
been  uniformity.  Every  where  the  greatest  profusion  has  taken  place,  so 
that  in  all  the  colonies,  and  nearly  in  every  part  of  each  colony,  more,  and 
very  much  more  land  has  been  alienated  by  the  government,  than  the  grantees 
had  at  the  time,  or  now  have  the  means  of  reclaiming  from  a  state  of  wil- 
derness ;  and  yet,  in  all  the  other  colonies  until  lately,  and  in  some  of  them 
still,  it  is  either  very  difficult  or  next  to  impossible  for  a  person  of  no  influ- 
ence to  obtain  any  of  the  public  land.  More  or  less  in  all  the  colonies,  and 
in  some  of  them  to  an  extent  which  would  not  be  credited,  if  the  fact  were 
not  established  by  unquestionable  testimony,  the  surveys  have  been  inaccu- 
rate, and  the  boundaries,  or  even  the  situation  of  estates,  are  proportionally 
uncertain.  Every  where  needless  delays  have  harassed  and  exasperated 
applicants  ;  and  every  where,  more  or  less.  I  am  sorry  but  compelled  to  add, 
gross  favoritism  has  prevailed  in  the  disposal  of  public  lands."  *  *— p.  74. 

"The  results  of  long  misgovernment  in  this  department  are  such  as  might 


APPENDIX.  89 

have  been  anticipated  by  any  person  understanding  the  subject.  The  admin- 
istration of  the  public  lands,  instead  of  always  yielding  a  revenue,  cost  for  a 
long  while  more  than  it  produced.  But  this  is,  I  venture  to  think,  a  trifling 
consideration  when  compared  with  others.  There  is  one  in  particular  which 
has  occurred  to  every  observant  traveller  in  these  regions,  which  is  a  constant 
theme  of  boast  in  the  states  bordering  upon  our  colonies,  and  a  subject  of 
loud  complaint  within  the  colonies.  I  allude  to  the  striking  contrast  which  is 
presented  between  the  American  and  British  sides  of  the  frontier  line  in 
respect  to  every  sign  of  productive  industry,  increasing  wealth,  and  progres- 
sive civilization." 

"  By  describing  one  side,  and  reversing  the  picture,  the  other  would  be  also  de- 
scribed. On  the  American  side,  all  is  activity  and  bustle.  The  forest  has  been 
widely  cleared ;  every  year  numerous  settlements  are  formed,  and  thousands 
of  farms  are  created  out  of  the  waste  ;  the  country  is  intersected  by  common 
roads  ;  canals  and  rail-roads  are  finished,  or  in  the  course  of  formation  ;  the 
ways  of  communication  and  transport  are  crowded  with  people,  and  enli- 
vened by  numerous  carriages  and  large  steam-boats.  The  observer  is  sur- 
at  the  number  of  harbors  on  the  lakes,  and  the  number  of  vessels  they 
contain ;  while  bridges,  artificial  landing-places,  and  commodious  wharves 
are  formed  in  all  directions  as  soon  as  required.  Good  houses,  warehouses, 
mills,  inns,  villages,  towns  and  even  great  cities,  are  almost  seen  to  spring  up 
out  of  the  desert.  Every  village  has  its  school-house  and  place  of  public 
.ip.  Every  town  has  many  of  both,  with  its  township  buildings,  its 
bookstores,  and  probably  one  or  two  banks  and  newspapers  ;  and  the  cities, 
with  their  fine  churches,  their  great  hotels,  tkeir  exchanges,  court-bouses  and 
;pal  halls,  of  stone  or  marble,  so  new  and  fresh  as  to  mark  the  recent 
«xistenoe  of  the  forest  wbere  they  now  stand,  would  be  admired  in  any  part 
of  the  Old  World.  On  the  British  side  of  the  line,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  favored  spots,  where  some  approach  to  American  prosperity  is  apparent, 
all  seems  waste  and  desolate.  There  is  but  one  rail-road  in  all  British  Amer- 
ica, and  that,  running  between  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Lake  Champlain,  is  only 
fifteen  miles  long.  The  ancient  city  of  Montreal,  which  is  naturally  the 
•commercial  capital  of  the  Canadas,  will  not  bear  the  least  comparison,  in  any 
respect,  with  Buffalo,  which  is  a  creation  of  yesterday.  But  it  is  not  in  the 
difference  between  the  larger  towns  on  the  two  sides  that  we  shall  find  the 
best  evidence  of  our  own  inferiority.  Tfcat  painful  but  undeniable  truth  is 
most  manifest  in  the  country  districts  through  which  the  line  of  national  sep- 
aration passes  for  one  thousand  miles.  There,  on  the  side  of  both  the  Cana- 
das, and  also  of  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia,  a  widely  scattered  popu- 
lation, poor,  and  apparently  unenterprising,  though  hardy  and  industrious, 
separated  from  each  other  by  tracts  of  intervening  forest,  without  towns  and 
markets,  almost  without  roads,  living  in  mean  houses,  drawing  little  more 
than  a  rude  subsistence  from  iil-cwltivated  land,  and  seemingly  incapable  of 

12 


90  APPENDIX. 

improving  their  condition,  present  the  most  instructive  contrast  to  their  enter- 
prising and  thriving  neighbors  on  the  American  side.  I  was  assured  that  in 
the  eastern  townships  of  Lower  Canada,  bordering  upon  the  line,  it  is  a  com- 
mon practice  for  settlers,  when  they  wish  to  meet,  to  enter  the  state  of  Ver- 
mont, and  make  use  of  the  roads  there  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  their  des- 
tination in  the  British  province.  Major  Head,  the  assistant  commissioner  of 
Crown  Lands'  Inquiry,  whom  I  sent  to  New  Brunswick,  states,  that  when 
travelling  near  the  frontier  line  of  that  province  and  the  state  of  Maine,  now 
on  one  side  and  then  on  the  other,  he  could  always  tell  on  which  side  he  was 
by  the  obvious  superiority  of  the  American  settlements  in  every  respect. 
Where  the  two  countries  are  separated  by  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  lakes, 
this  difference  is  less  perceptible ;  but  not  less  in  fact,  if  I  may  believe  the 
concurrent  statements  of  numerous  eye-witnesses,  who  had  no  motive  for 
deceiving  me.  For  farther  corroboration,  I  might  refer  indeed  to  numerous 
and  uncontradicted  publications  j.  and  there  is  one  proof  of  this  sort  so  re- 
markable, that  I  am  induced  to  notice  it  specially.  A  highly  popular  work, 
which  is  known  to  be  from  the  pen  of  one  of  your  Majesty's  chief  functiona- 
ries in  Nova  Scotia,  abounds  in  assertions  and  illustrations  of  the  backward 
and  stagnant  condition  of  that  province,  and  the  great  superiority  of  neigh- 
boring American  settlements.  Although  the  author,  with  a  natural  disincli- 
nation to  question  the  excellence  of  government,  attributes  this  mortifying 
circumstance  entirely  to  the  folly  of  the  people,  in  neglecting  their  farms  to 
occupy  themselves  with  complaining  of  grievances  and  abuses,  he  leaves  no 
doubt  of  the  fact." 

"  This  view  is  confirmed  by  another  fact  equally  indisputable.  Through- 
out the  frontier,  from  Amherstburgh  to  the  ocean,  the  market  value  of  land 
is  much  greater  on  the  American  than  on  the  British  side.  In  not  a  few 
parts  of  th&  frontier  this  difference  amounts  to-  as  much  as  a  thousand  per 
eent.y  aad>  in  some  cases  even  more.  The  average  difference,  as  between 
Upper  Canada  and  the  states  of  New  York  aad  Michigan*,  is  notoriously 
several  Imndred  per  cent.  Mr.  Hastings  Kerr,  of  Quebec,  whose  knowledge 
of  the  value  of  land  in  Lower  Canada  is  generally  supposed  to  be  more  ex- 
tensive and  accurate  than  that  of  any  other  person,  states  tbat  the  price  of 
wild  land  in  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire,  close  to  the  lisie,  is  five  dollars 
per  acre,  and  in  the  adjoining  British  townships  only  one  dallar.  On  this 
side  the  line  a  very  large  extent  of  land  is  wholly  unsalable,  even  at  such 
low  prices  ;  while  on  the  other  side  property  is  continually  changing  hands. 
The  priee  of  one  or  two  shillings  per  acre  would  purchase  immense  tracts  in 
Lower  Canada  and  New  Brunswick.  In  the  adjoining  states  it  would  be  dif- 
ficult to  obtain  a  single  lot  for  less  than  as  many  dollars.  Im  and  near  Stan- 
stead,  a  border-township  of  Lower  Canada,  and  one  of  tbe  most  improved, 
forty-eight  thousand  acres  of  fine  land,  of  which  Governor  Sir  R.  S.  Milne 
obtained  a  grant  to  himself  in  1810,  was  sold  at  tke  price  of  two  shillings  per 
acre."  *  *—pp.  74—76. 


APPENDIX.  91 

"  Still  less  can  we  attribute  to  such  causes  another  circumstance,  which 
in  some  measure  accounts  for  the  different  values  of  property,  and  which 
has  a  close  relation  to  the  subject  of  the  public  lands.  I  mean  the  great 
amount  of  re  emigration  from  the  British  colonies  to  the  border  states. 
This  is  a  notorious  fact.  Nobody  denies  it ;  almost  every  colonist  speaks 
of  it  with  regret.  What  the  proportion  may  be  of  those  emigrants  from 
the  United  Kingdom  who,  soon  after  their  arrival,  remove  to  the  United 
States,  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  ascertain  precisely.  Mr.  Bell  Forsyth, 
of  Quebec,  who  has  paid  much  attention  to  the  subject,  and  with  the  best 
opportunities  of  observing  correctly  in  both  the  Canadas,  estimates  that 
proportion  at  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  Mr.  Hawke,  the  chief  agent  for 
emigrants  in  Upper  Canada,  calculates  that  out  of  two  thirds  of  the  immi- 
grants  by  the  St.  Lawrence  who  reach  that  province,  one  fourth  re-emi- 
grate chiefly  to  settle  in  the  states.  It  would  appear,  however,  that  the 
amount  of  emigration  from  Upper  Canada,  whether  of  new  comers  or  others, 
must  be  nearer  Mr.  Forsyth's  estimate.  The  population  was  reckoned  at 
two  hundred  thousand  in  January,  1830.  The  increase  by  births  since  then 
•hoold  have  been  at  least  three  per  cent,  per  annum,  or  fifty-four  thousand. 
Mr.  Hawke  states  the  number  of  immigrants  from  Lower  Canada,  since 
1829,  to  have  been  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  ;  allowing  that  these 
1  ould  have  increased  at  the  rate  of  three  per  cent,  per  annum,  the  whole 
increase  by  immigration  and  births  should  have  been  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand.  But  Mr.  Hawke's  estimate  of  immigrants  takes  no  account  of  the 
very  considerable  number  who  enter  the  province  by  way  of  New  York  and 
the  Erie  canal.  Reckoning  these  at  only  fifty  thousand,  which  is  probably 
under  the  truth,  and  making  no  allowance  for  their  increase  by  births,  the 
entire  population  of  Upper  Canada  should  now  have  been  five  hundred  thous- 
and, whereas  it  is,  according  to  the  most  reliable  estimates,  not  over  four 
hundred  thousand.  It  would  therefore  appear,  making  all  allowance  for 
errors  in  this  calculation,  that  the  number  of  people  who  have  emigrated 
from  Upper  Canada  to  the  United  States,  since  1829,  must  be  equal  to  more 
than  half  of  the  number  who  have  entered  the  province  during  the  eight 
years.  Mr.  Baillie,  the  present  commissioner  of  Crown  Lands  in  New 
Brunswick,  says  : — 'A  great  many  emigrants  arrive  in  the  province,  but 
they  generally  proceed  to  the  United  States,  as  there  is  not  sufficient  encour- 
agement for  them  in  this  province/  Mr.  Morris,  the  present  commissioner 
of  Crown  Lands,  and  surveyor-general  of  Nova  Scotia,  speaks  in  almost 
similar  terms  of  the  emigrants  who  reach  that  province  by  way  of  Halifax." 

"  I  am  far  from  asserting  that  the  very  inferior  value  of  land  in  the  British 
colonies,  and  the  re-emigration  of  immigrants,  are  altogether  occasioned  by 
mismanagement  in  the  disposal  of  public  lands.  Other  defects  and  errors  of 
government  must  have  had  a  share  in  producing  these  lamentable  results." 
*  *-pp.  76,  77. 


92  APPENDIX. 

"  For  it  must  be  recollected  that  the  natural  ties  of  sympathy  between  the 
English  population  of  the  Canadas  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  frontier  states 
of  the  Union  are  peculiarly  strong.  Not  only  do  they  speak  the  same  lan- 
guage, live  under  laws  having  the  same  origin,  and  preserve  the  same  cus- 
toms and  habits^  but  there  is  a  positive  alternation,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  of 
the  populations  of  the  two  countries,  While  large  tracts  of  the  British  terri- 
tory are  peopled  by  American  citizens,  who  still  keep  up  a  constant  connex- 
ion with  their  kindred  and  friends,  the  neighboring  states  are  filled  with  emi- 
grants from  Great  Britain,  some  of  whom  have  quitted  Canada  after  unavail- 
ing efforts  to  find  there  a  profitable  return  for  their  capital  and  labor  ;  and 
many  of  whom  have  settled  in  the  United  States,  while  other  members  of  the 
families,  and  the  companions  of  their  youth,  have  taken  up  their  abode  on 
the  other  side  of  the  frontier.  I  had  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  exact  de- 
gree of  truth  in  some  statements  which  I  have  heard  respecting  the  number 
of  Irish  settled  in  the  state  of  New  York ;  but  il  is  commonly  asserted  that 
there  are  no  less  than  forty  thousand  Irish  in  the  militia  of  that  state.  The 
intercourse  between  these  two  divisions  of  what  is,  in  fact,  an  identical  pop- 
ulation, is  constant  and  universal.  The  border  townships  of  Lower  Canada 
are  separated  from  the  United  States  by  an  imaginary  line  ;  a  greater  part  of 
the  frontier  of  Upper  Canada  by  rivers,  which  are  crossed  in  ten  minutes ; 
and  the  rest  by  lakes,  which  interpose  hardly  a  six  hours'  passage  between 
the  inhabitants  of  each  side.  Every  man's  daily  occupations  bring  him  in 
contact  with  his  neighbors  on  the  other  side  of  the  line  ;  the  daily  wants  of 
one  country  are  supplied  by  the  produce  of  the  other  ;  and  the  population  of 
each  is  in  some  degree  dependent  on  the  state  of  trade  and  the  demands  of 
the  other.  Such  common  wants  beget  an  interest  in  the  politics  of  each 
country  among  citizens  of  the  other.  The  newspapers  circulate  in  some 
places  almost  equally  on  the  different  sides  of  the  line  ;  and  men  discover  that 
their  welfare  is  frequently  as  much  involved  in  the  political  condition  of  their 
neighbors  as  of  their  own  countrymen."— -p.  96. 

"  But  the  chances  of  rebellion  or  foreign  invasion  are  not  those  which  I 
regard  as  either  the  most  probable  or  the  most  injurious.  The  experience  of 
the  last  two  years  suggests  the  occurrence  of  a  much  more  speedy  and  disas- 
trous result.  I  dread,  in  fact,  the  completion  of  the  sad  work  of  depopula- 
tion and  impoverishment  which  is  now  rapidly  going  on.  The  present  evil 
is  not  merely,  that  improvement  is  stayed,  and  that  the  wealth  and  population 
of  these  colonies  do  not  increase  according  to  the  lapid  scale  of  American  pro- 
gress. No  accession  of  population  takes  place  by  immigration,  and  no  capital 
is  brought  into  the  country.  On  the  contrary,  both  the  people  and  the  capital 
seem  to  be  quitting  the  distracted  provinces.  From  the  French  portion  of 
Lower  Canada  there  has,  for  a  long  time,  been  a  large  annual  emigration  of 
young  men  to  the  northern  states  of  the  American  Union,  in  which  they  are 
highly  valued  as  laborers,  and  gain  good  wages,  with  their  savings  from 


APPENDIX.  93 

which  they  generally  return  to  their  homes  in  a  few  months  or  years.  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  usual  amount  of  this  emigration  has  been  increased  dur- 
ing the  last  [1838]  year,  except  by  a  few  persons  prominently  compromised 
in  the  insurrection,  who  sold  their  property,  and  made  up  their  minds  to  a 
perpetual  exile ;  but  I  think  there  is  some  reason  to  believe  that,  among  the 
class  of  habitual  emigrants  whom  I  have  described,  a  great  many  now  take 
up  their  permanent  residence  in  the  United  States.  But  the  stationary  habits 
and  local  attachments  of  the  French  Canadians  render  it  little  likely  that  they 
will  quit  their  country  in  great  numbers.  I  am  not  aware  that  there  is  any 
diminution  of  the  British  population  from  such  a  cause.  The  employment 
of  British  capital  in  the  province  is  not  materially  checked  in  the  principal 
branch  of  trade  ;  and  the  main  evils  are  the  withdrawal  of  enterprising 
British  capitalists  from  the  French  portion  of  the  country,  the  diminished 
employment  of  the  capital  now  in  the  province,  and  the  entire  stoppage  of  all 
increase  of  the  population  by  means  of  immigration.  But  from  Upper  Can- 
ada the  withdrawal  both  of  capital  and  of  population  has  been  very  consid- 
erable. I  have  received  accounts  from  most  respectable  sources  of  very 
numerous  emigration  from  the  whole  of  the  Western  and  London  districts. 
It  was  said  by  persons  who  professed  to  have  witnessed  it,  that  considerable 
numbers  liad,  lor  a  long  time,  daily  passed  over  from  Amherstburgh  and 
Sandwich  to  Detroit ;  and  a  most  respectable  informant  stated,  that  he  had 
seen,  in  one  of  the  districts  which  I  have  mentioned,  no  less  than  fifteen  vacant 
ther  on  the  road-side.  A  body  of  the  reforming  party  have 
avowed,  in  the  most  open  manner,  their  intention  of  emigrating,  from  politi- 
cal motives,  and  publicly  invited  all  who  might  be  influenced  by  similar  feel- 
ings to  join  in  their  enterprise.  For  this  the  Mississippi  Emigration  Society 
has  been  formed  with  the  purpose  of  facilitating  emigration  from  Upper  Can- 
ada to  the  new  territory  of  the  Union,  called  Iowa,  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Upper  Mississippi.  The  prospectus  of  the  undertaking,  and  the  report  of  the 
deputies  who  were  sent  to  examine  the  country  in  question,  were  given  in  the 
public  press,  and  the  advantages  of  the  new  colony  strongly  enforced  by  the 
reformers,  and  depreciatingly  discussed  by  the  friends  of  the  Government. 
The  number  of  persons  who  have  thus  emigrated  is  not,  however,  I  have 
reason  to  believe,  as  great  as  it  has  often  been  represented.  Many  who 
miirht  be  disposed  to  take  such  a  step,  cannot  sell  their  farms  on  fair  terms  ; 
and  though  some,  relying  on  the  ease  with  which  land  is  obtained  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  have  been  content  to  remove  merely  their  stock  and  their  chattels, 
yet  there  are  others  again  who  cannot  at  the  last  make  the  sacrifices  which  a 
forced  sale  would  necessitate,  and  who  continue,  even  under  their  present 
state  of  alarm,  to  remain  in  hopes  of  better  times.  In  the  districts  which 
border  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  little  has  in  fact  come  of  the  determination  to 
emigrate,  which  was  loudly  expressed  at  one  time.  And  some  even  of  those 
who  actually  left  the  country  are  said  to  have  returned.  But  the  instances 


94  APPENDIX. 

which  have  come  to  my  knowledge  induce  me  to  attach  even  more  import- 
ance to  the  class  than  to  the  alleged  number  of  the  emigrants ;  and  I  can  by 
no  means  agree  with  some  of  the  dominant  party,  that  the  persons  who  thus 
leave  the  country  are  disaffected  subjects,  whose  removal  is  a  great  advant- 
age to  loyal  and  peaceable  men.  In  a  country  like  Upper  Canada,  where  the 
introduction  of  population  and  capital  is  above  all  things  needful  for  its  pros- 
perity, and  almost  for  its  continued  existence,  it  would  be  more  prudent  as 
well  as  just,  more  the  interest  as  well  as  the  duty  of  Government  to  remove 
the  causes  of  disaffection,  than  to  drive  out  the  disaffected.  But  there  is  no 
ground  for  asserting  that  all  the  reformers  who  have  thus  quitted  the  country, 
are  disloyal  and  turbulent  men  ;  nor  indeed  is  it  very  clear  that  all  of  them 
are  reformers,  and  that  the  increasing  insecurity  of  persons  and  property 
have  not,  without  distinction  of  politics,  driven  out  some  of  the  most  valua- 
ble settlers  of  the  province.  A  great  impression  has  been  lately  made  by  the 
removal  of  one  of  the  largest  proprietors  of  the  province,  a  gentleman  who 
arrived  there  not  many  years  ago  from  Trinidad;  who  has  taken  no  promi- 
nent, and  certainly  no  violent  part  in  politics  ;  and  who  has  now  transferred 
himself  and  his  property  to  the  United  States,  simply  because  in  Upper  Can- 
ada he  can  find  no  secure  investment  for  the  latter,  and  no  tranquil  enjoy- 
ment of  life.  I  heard  of  another  English  gentleman,  who,  having  resided  in 
the  country  for  six  or  seven  years,  and  invested  large  sums  in  bringing  over 
a  superior  breed  of  cattle  and  sheep,  was,  while  I  was  there,  selling  off  his 
stock  and  implements,  with  a  view  of  settling  in  Illinois.  I  was  informed  of 
an  individual  who,  thirty  years  ago,  had  gone  into  the  forest  with  his  axe  on 
his  shoulder,  and,  with  no  capital  at  starting,  had,  by  dint  of  patient  labor, 
acquired  a  farm  and  stock,  which  he  had  sold  for  £2000,  with  which  he  went 
into  the  United  States.  This  man,  I  was  assured,  was  only  a  specimen  of  a 
numerous  class,  to  whose  unwearied  industry  the  growth  and  prosperity  of 
the  colony  are  mainly  to  be  ascribed.  They  are  now  driven  from  it,  on  ac- 
count of  the  present  insecurity  of  all  who,  having  in  former  times  been  iden- 
tified in  politics  with  some  of  those  that  subsequently  appeared  as  prominent 
actors  in  the  revolt,  are  regarded  and  treated  as  rebels,  though  they  had  held 
themselves  completely  aloof  from  all  participation  in  schemes  or  acts  of  rebel- 
lion. Considerable  alarm  also  exists  as  to  the  general  disposition  to  quit  the 
country,  which  was  said  to  have  been  produced  by  some  late  measures  of  the 
authorities  among  that  mild  and  industrious,  but  peculiar  race  of  descendants 
of  the  Dutch,  who  inhabit  the  back  part  of  the  Niagara  district."— pp.  98,  99. 


Corrections.— Paige  10,  16th  line,  for  '  quiquennial,'  read  'quinquennial.'  Page  23,  14th 
line,  instead  of  '  in  consequence,'  read  '  the  number  in  consequence ' ;  -23d  line,  after  '  immi- 
grants,' add  '  and  ' ;  4th  line  from  the  bottom,  for  '  1800,'  read  '  1840.'  Page  24,  23d  line,  for 
'  1816,'  read  '  1815.'  Page  28,  5th  line  from  the  bottom,  for  '2,777,038,'  read  '2,779038.' 
Page  44,  7th  line,  for  '  762,149,'  read  '  762,139.'  Page  80,  26th  line,  for  '  loreginers,'  read  '  for- 
eigners.' 


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